April 15, 1899.
W. G. Bartlett and Son, architects, of 56, New Broad-street, E.C. Rebuilding operations at the Pigeons Hotel, Romford-road, Stratford, are being carried out under the supervision of Mr. Henry Poston, architect, of 39, Lombard-street, E.C., the estimated cost of the work being about £13,000.
THE ESTATES GAZETTE,
608
An important licensing appeal was heard at the Wandsworth Sessions, on Tuesday week. This was a case in which Mr. Laceby proposed to give up the license of the Pive Alls, Batter-sea-park-road, and carry on the business at 2, Abercrombie-street, the adjoining , premises Mr. Earle supported the application, and said his client applied for a new license, he being the owner of the premises. Mr. Lawson Walton, Q.C., appeared for Messrs. Lacon, the owners of the Pive Alls, and opposed the application, pointing out that his clients were the holders of a long lease of the house. The application was to deprive his clients of their premises, and appropriate to the applicant a considerable commercial value, by transferring to the .premises next door that element of value. Having regard to the decision of the House of Lords,״ the Bench had full discretion in the granting of the license, and he hoped they would exercise such discretion wisely. If the landlords’ interests were to be protected by Act of Parliament, then the Bench should consider it fully. He ,contended that no adequate case had been made out for taking away the license, and carrying it next door. The Court unanimously agreed that this application should be granted.
In Lowestoft they are greatly interested in Spiers and Pond’s new hotel on Kirkley Cliff. It would seem that this hotel is part of a forward movement on the part of the company, as may be inferred from the following paragraph : —Spiers and Pond, Limited, are about to make an issue of £400,000 in £10 five per cent, preference shares at the price of £11. The proceeds will be devoted to the extension of the hotel programme of the .company, and it ^ is argued that the results should increase the dividend on the ordinary. On the other hand, the issue is very likely to temporarily depress the existing shares, as it will mean the creation of a prior charge of £20,000 on the profits. Spiers and Pond’s directors, however, are making a determined, albeit somewhat tardy, effort to keep abreast of the times.
There was a large company present at the Masons’ Arms Hotel, Louth, on Wednesday last week, when the Wellington Hotel, there, was submitted for sale by public auction by Messrs. Dickinson and Riggall. The freehold property in question consisted of the old-established and fully-licensed property, with brew-house, large yard, stabling for several horses, carriage house, outbuildings, and garden adjoining, the whole containing an area of about 1,950 square yards. The premises are situate at the corner of New Bridge Hill and Ramsgate, facing the Station-road, and have a frontage of 86ft. The hotel has three separate entrances, and contains coffee room, dining room, and 11 bedrooms. Mr. Dickinson observed that this was one of the most valuable licensed properties in the town, and its position made it such. It was so situate near the railway station that fully 95 per cent, of the people coming into Louth or going out of Louth by rail passed its doors, and the first and last house of call was invariably a good house. The property was knocked down for £3,350 to Mr. C. R. Surfleet, who purchased on behalf of Messrs. Soulby Sons and Winch, Limited. Messrs. Sharpley and Son were the vendors’ solicitors.
The noted Bull and Gate, in Kentish Town-road, is probably the leading house in the vicinity, being the principal stopping place of the great omnibus and tramway traffic which continually passes along the road. It stands at the junction of Fortess-road, now much widened and improved, leading to Junction-road, Tufnell-park, where famous football teams have their grounds, and frequently attract great crowds, and to the Archway Tavern, Highgate. The premises are arranged on a spacious scale, and a large trade is carried on. This splendid property is to be offered for sale shortly by Mr. S. H. Baker (of the late firm of Randall, Beard and Baker).
The Pendennis Hotel, Falmouth, which stands in its owrn ground, overlooking the sea and Pendennis Castle, was the subject of a rating appeal at Cornwall Quarter Sessions on Wednesday, a report of the appeal appearing in another column. The Court■ confirmed the assessment of £275 gross and £200 rateable. In regard to the Royal Hotel, the ,lease had been sold at a sum ׳which would have produced a rental in excess .of the rating fixed! by the Assessment Committee, and the Court also allowed this appeal, the gross to be £240 and the rateable £180.
Messrs. Wickenden, of Tunbridge Wells, held a successful sale at the Castle Hotel,
THE DEPRECIATION OF UNDERWOOD
To the Editor of the ESTATES GAZETTE.
Sin,—I am much interested in your Forestry column, conducted so ably by Mr. Curtis, but as he is writing for the benefit of landowners and agents, I should be glad if he would give his views as to the future of the underwood industry. Living, as ,he does, in the south of England, and in the midst of fine crops of chestnut underwoods, he cannot hut observe how this important crop is affected by the reduction in prices for hoops and underwood produce, and what, some 20 years ago, was considered a valuable asset in the management of estates in Sussex and Hampshire, has so deteriorated that underwood which formerly made £25 an acre will not now fetch £7, and the average price realised at the annual sales is not more than £3 per acre.
The old copsecutter and hoopmaker of the last generation is passing away, and the young men prefer other occupations more profitable and congenial.
The cutting and converting of underwood may be called a village industry upheld by honest, good workmen, who, having bought their piece of underwood at the annual copse sale, seldom failed to meet their engagements to the day, and the annual dispersion of the underwood was an event crowded by local buvers and their workmen.
But times are rapidly changing ; there are few buyers, and no new ones coming into the market. What is to be done! Underwood must be cut at the age of eight years, or becomes too strong and rough so that the workman will not look at it, and the hoop merchant will refuse to purchase the long hoops. Hop poles are no longer ■in great demand, the straining poles and wire having been substituted for the copse pole.
Many estate agents will, no doubt, like to hear Mr. Curtis’s remarks on this matter.
Yours, etc.,
SUSSEX.
Witmub f ropaln $toUs.
Masons’ Hall Tavern presented a very crowded and animated appearance on Tuesday, when seven firms of auctioneers offered some important properties for sale. One of the finest hotels in the metropolis, the famous Golden Cross, at Charing-cross, which is mentioned by Dickens in “ Pickwick Papers,” was submitted by Mr. Herbert Finch (Messrs. Barker, Cathie and Finch), and withdrawn at■ £55,100. For quite a long time competition was exceedingly keen for the North Pole, in St. Quintin’s Park, Wormwood SOrubbs, doing a trade of £500 to £600 per month, which was withdrawn by Mr. James Motion at £35,000. The Salisbury Arms, in Camomile-street, City, was sold by Mr. Alfred Flower for £5,100 ; and the Browns-wood Park Tavern, in Green-lanes, N., for £16,050, by Mr. John Marks.
The Golden Cross, before the advent of railways, was a busy and important coaching hotel. Till late in the last century_ a lofty sign-post• stood before the gate of this inn. ^ In 1760 there was such a sign-post under a little Golden Cross, but in the reign of George III. the painted ornaments and street signs in the Strand were destroyed. In this connection, it is interesting to note that a sign of Shakespeare, 5ft. high, enclosed in a sumptuously-carved gilt frame, hung suspended by red foliated ironwork over a house in Covent-garden, whilst where the post-office now stands at Charing-cross there was once, of all things in the world, a hermitage.
Perhaps for an easy-going, pleasant every-day life, without any particular excitement or worry, a better place could not be selected to settle in than the “ ancient and loyal borough ” of Buckingham. While dating back to the time of the Saxon Heptarchy, and possessing at one time a castle built by the first Norman Earl of Buckingham, it has now one of the principal markets in the county and numerous country houses in the vicinity. Buckingham is surrounded on every side except the north by the river Ouse, and showing how much alive the present inhabitants are, we find it has efficient public water supply, and sewerage, electric light, and other up-to-date improvements. The excellent hostelry there, known as the White Hart Hotel, enjoying all these modern advantages, is for sale on April 25, Messrs. Harrison and Sons being the auctioneers. It should command much more than a local attendance of buyers.
Messrs. Fleuret, Sons and Adams have already disposed, by private treaty, of the Prince of Wales, situate in Caroline-street, Camden Town, which was advertised for sale by auction on Tuesday next.
The Seven Kings Hotel, at Ilford, is being reconstructed from designs prepared by Messrs.
Popeworks Company, the Court had some difficulty, because of the ■ considerable amount of machinery used, which in their opinion was not rateable, and they did not think that that■ machinery ought to he added as a rateable asset. They therefore reduced the committee s assessment to £600 gross and £300 rateable, each party to pay its own costs.
Mr. Genn, for the appellants, asked the Court to fix the amount of the costs, but the Chairman said they had no data to go upon, and the proper course would be to have the costs taxed by the clerk of the peace.
A LIVERPOOL INSTITUTION.
In the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, on April 11, before Mr. Justice Wills and Mr. Justice Ridley, was heard the appeal case of “Hadfield v. Mayor, etc., of Liverpool.”
This was a special case stated by the Recorder of Liverpool. The appellant appealed against the making of a general rate of £111 11s. 3d. in respect of certain premises in the city of Liverpool under the following circumstances : —The premises in question were part of an institution known as “ The Bishop O’Reilly Memorial Poor Law Schools,” an institution for the purpose of receiving from Poor Law Guardians and others Roman Catholic children for maintenance and education. The children were only taught those subjects which are comprised in the Government code for public elementary schools. By the Liverpool Corporation Act, 1893, section 36, it is provided that no person shall be rated to the general rate^ in respect of any building used for the education of the poor exclusively. It was contended for the appellant that the building in question came ׳within this exemption. The building was certified by the Local Government Board for the reception of 190 pauper children, who might be sent by Poor Law Guardians under the provisions of the Poor Law; Act, 1862. The building was divided into the ■following rooms— namely, a dining hall, a refectory for the nuns, a community room, a chapel, a laundry, a kitchen, seven dormitories, a play room, three class-rooms, including a babies’ room, lavatories, and offices. There was a staff of nuns and lay teachers, who, with the servants and children, were the only persons living in the institution. The ages of the children received at the institution were, as regards boys, between two and seven years, as regards girls between two and 16 years. The institution was not used as a means of profit. The Recorder was of opinion that, in point of law, in order to bring the building within the exemption the building must be used for the purpose of the education of the poor exclusively, and that this building was not so used within the meaning of the enactment.
Mr. Pdckford, Q. C., and Mr. A. G. Steel appeared for the appellant ; Mr. Carver, Q.C., and Mr. Collingwood Hope for the respondents.
The Court dismissed the appeal.
Mr. Justice Wills said that he had had con siderable misgivings as to what the decision of the Court should be, as there was very little to guide the Court as to the meaning of the section. He did not attach any importance to the position of the word “ exclusively ” in the section, hut thought that the words meant that a building was to be exempt from rating if it was used for the education of the poor and nothing else. The question, therefore, was, What was covered by the expression “ education of the poor ” 1 Education was undoubtedly capable of a very wide meaning, but the primary notion implied by the word was instruction. If what was done in the appellant’s institution in the way of eleemosynary gifts was only ancillary to the instruction, in the same way, for example, as dinners were sometimes given to necessitous Board School children, that would not, in his Lordship’s opinion, have deprived the building of the character of being used for the education of the poor. But when it was found that children were taken into the institution so young as two years, at an age when only in the widest sense could their bringing up be said to be education; when one fcund that the children were entirely maintained and clothed and received medical attendance, it seemed to his Lordship that the objects of the institution went far beyond any reasonable interpretation of the words “ education of the poor.” The judgment of the Recorder was therefore right.
Mr. Justice Ridley came to the same conclusion.
TO READERS.
The Manager will esteem it a favour if readers of the “ ESTATES GAZETTE ” will kindly mention the name of the paper when communicating with any firm in regard to properties advertised or referred to therein
which, deducted from the net receipts of £2,244, left £1,553. By further deducting from this sum the actual rates paid of £360, he arrived at the amount of £1,193 as the rateable value of the works.
Mr. Arthur Body and Mr. Wm. Eve confirmed Mr. Valon’s valuation, with slight modifications. Mr. Body estimated the tenant’s capital at £4,085, and Mr. Eve at £4,175. Both for the purpose of calculating the rateable value took the tenant’s capital at the round figure of £4,300, and calculated the interest at the rate of 16 per cent., which they considered ample. This allowed the tenant £688 as interest on his capital. By this method of calculation they both estimated the rateable value of the gas works at £1,196, or £217 greater than the assessment fixed by the committee.
Mr. Duke remarked that the gas works were assessed by Mr. Morgan Howard in 1888 at £665 gross, £434 net. Since then the profitearning capacity of the concern had not increased. It was true that in 1888 the output of gas was 23 million cubic feet, and in 1898 the make of gas was 33 million cubic׳ feet, but the profit earned in the two years was the same within £30, because under the sliding scale the price of gas had been reduced from 3s. 9d. to 3s. per 100 cubic feet. Under the company s Act of Parliament a ratio was fixed between the dividends paid and the price charged to the consumer for gas, and if the rates were increased by a substantial amount the result would he not a loss of profit to the shareholders, but an increase, in the price of gas to the population of Falmouth. In this case the profit earned was the measure of the rateable value. In 1888, when the works were assessed by Mr. Morgan Howard, the company had a nominal capital of 12,000 £1 shares, of which 10,765 had been issued. In 1890 the company was vested in a new company, with a, capital of £13,500 nominal, and that was its present capital. There was no substantial difference either hi the profit earned or the rateable value of the property when Mr. Howard Morgan made his award and now, and he submitted that £490, which corresponded very closely with the old assessment, was the proper rateable value. On their side _ they estimated the tenant’s capital invested in the concern at £6,000. At 17¿ per cent.—the rate always hitherto allowed—the interest would amount to £1,050. The net receipts of the company amounted to £1,981. After deducting £1,050, the sum of £931 was left as the gross estimated rental. Out of that £931 they had to make the statutory deduction of rates and the expenditure necessary to keep the premises in a condition to command that rental. Deducting KTose items, they arrived at £490 as the true rateable value of the property.
Mr. Corbet Woodall, C.E., London, said according to his calculation the tenant’s capital was £6,500, but taking it at £6,000, and calculating the interest to which he was entitled at 17¿ per cent., the rateable value worked out at £490.
Mr. J. W. Buckley, engineer of Falmouth Gasworks, gave evidence.
Mr. Duke in his reply, argued that the appellants in their valuation had cut down the tenant’s interest in the undertaking in ordei to unduly increase the assessment; and Mr. Foote argued that the respondents by their method of valuation had inflated the tenants’ interest beyond its proper proportion in order to minimise the rateable value.
DECISION.
In the case of the Falmouth Gas Company the Court considered the rateable assessment of £978 too high, believing that sufficient allowance had not been made for the tenant’s capital. They therefore reduced it to £820, and suggested that the parties should agree upon the gross assessment. Each party was ordered to pay its own costs. In Mr. Carne’s case the Court fixed the gross assessment of the Falmouth Brewery at £170 and rateable £120, each party to pay its own costs. Respecting the Falmouth Hotel, looking at the accommodation, the cost incurred in its construction, and the gross receipts, the Court considered the rating fixed by the Assessment Committee of £665 gross and £500 rateable was not excessive. They therefore allowed the appeal, with costs. The same conclusions had been adopted with regard to Pendennis Hotel, and the Court confirmed the committee’s1 assessment of £275 gross, £200 rateable. As the lease of the Royal Hotel had been sold for a sum which ivould have produced a rental in excess of the rating fixed by the Assessment Committee, the Court also allowed that appeal with costs, the gross to be £240 and rateable £180. In the case of the West of England Bone and Manure Company the evidence showed that the premises were old and the machinery of an antiquated character. Knowing also the competition in this trade, the Court considered it doubtful whether any tenant would give the value ot the interest on the buildings ; and considering the cost of working businesses of this kind, they dismissed the appeal, and assessed the property at £450 gross and £200 rateable. In considering the case against the Stephens’s