1091
THE ESTATES GAZETTE
Jote 24, 1899.
to hold out during the siege by Louis of France (1216), in all probability sayed England from a French dynasty.
On the left of the entrance to the town, and adjoining the new Town Hall, is the old hall of the Maison Dieu, or hospital, built and endowed by Hubert de Burgh, the gleat justiciary of England, about the beginning of the reign of Henry HI. It was dedicated to St. Mary, and was intended for the maintenance of a master and several brethren and sisters, and for the relief and lodging of such poor pilgrims as should resort hither. Divers lands and rents were given to this foundation by Simon le Wardune. These donations were confirmed by Henry III., and the tithes of all the profits arising from the passage of the port were further granted by him! to the brethren. Ten pound® per annum were also granted by the same king out of the profits Of the port.
Henry Yin. took this hospital into his own hands, and at the Dissolution, the annual revenues were valued at £159 18s. 6jd. Queen Mary converted it into an office for victualling the Navy, to which use it was appropriated for long afterwards.
In this hospital, when our sovereigns and1 the great officers of State were accustomed to reside in Dover on their way to and from the Continent, the King’s Chancellor and his suite usually took up their abode; whilst the sovereign himself was lodged either in she ca-stle, or in the prioiy.
In addition to these historical associations, the Maison Dieu has been immortalised in our own day in׳ “ The Ingo-ldSby Legends,” as the locality of the legend entitled “ The Old Woman Clothed in Grey.”
What is believed to form the only remaining portion of the appurtenances which were retained׳ by Henry Yin. after the suppression of the hospital, is the freehold property which will be offered for sale by Messrs. Farebrother, Ellis, Egerton, Breach and Co., at the London Mart, E.C., on the 29th instant.
It comprises an ancient residence, massively built of brick with red tiled roof, lying well back from the main thoroughfare, and approached by a spacious carriage sweep with front garden.
The principal rooms, including the front drawing room, the dining room, !the oak-panelled library, the schoolroom—supposed to have been part of the old nunnery—the large room on the first floor, *which was originally the chapel—are all of handsome proportions. There is an old oak staircase and a back staircase, and large central outer and inner halls.
In the rear of the house is a small garden with shrubberies, beyond, which are the beautiful sequestered pleasure grounds, most charmingly laid out in the old style with flower and fruit gardens¡. There are spacious velvety lawns and extensive walks around the same, which are well-screened from observation by high walls, and adorned with venerable trees and ornamental shrubberies, comprising choice drooping acacia, mulberry, holly, silver birch, chestnut, and various fruibbearing trees.
There are also brick and timber-built vineries and greenhouse, heated1 by hot water pipes, and a red brick and tiled summer house, formerly an ancient bath house, with stove and chimney-piece. In the rear is a pathway having an extensive water frontage to the river of about 235ft-., and comprising the whole of the north-west boundary.
The premises lie in the midst of greatly improved property, and by its convenient situation, close proximity to the Town Hall, and great historic associations, it is eminently adapted for public gardens or other municipal purposes ; it is also suitable for a college, private institute, or club; and ripe for the erection of first-class shops and extensive manufacturing premises in the rear, with the advantage of the valuable water way of the river.
Also included in the sale will be the important plot of building land, forming part of the gardens of Maison Dieu House, having a frontage of about 20ft. to Ladywell-place, bounded, on the north and east by properties belonging to Colonel Humphreys and Mr. F. Finnis, with a valuable water frontage of about 177ft. to the river Dour, and containing about lr. 20p. of productive kitchen and! fruit gardens, laid out in beds with gravel walks around.
It *may be added that the property is close to the Priory Railway Station on the London, Chatham and Dover line, a mile from Dover Town Station on the South-Eastern Railway, about the same distance from the harbour, and ten minutes’ walk from Dover Castle, the sea beach, and the promenade pier.
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is known who are the parties?—if it could not have been gathered by implication or inference. The plaintiff’s counsel contended it could be so gathered without in any way infringing the provisions of -the Act of Charles II. against frauds and perjuries—against, that is, permitting a man to be tempted to bolster up a claim to valuable property by questionable oral evidence. It was urged that if all the documents were read together and the price and name of the property and the fact of Messrs. Churchman's agency considered, the statute was satisfied according -to the construction which Sad' been put on it by modem authorities, and, as we have said', the judge ultimately so decided. His ruling, we think, will not be disturbed ii the Lord® Justices are appealed to, for, putting the reason of the thing aside—and reason is now! quite commonly listened to and followed in a court of law—we do not see how “ Eilby v. Hounsell,” which was decided by Mr. Justice Romer in 1896, can be got over by the defendant.
As that case is of special interest to auctioneers, we may conclude our remarks on last week’s action by giving a short account of it, premising that the learned judge reviewed, in giving his decision, the well-known cases of “Reus® v. Ricksley,” “Williams v. Jordan,” and “Rossiter v. Miller” among others. In “Eilby v. Hounseli,” the vendor’s name was omitted from the conditions of sale by auction of a house, and from the indorsed form of contract to be signed by a purchaser. The house was1 not sold at the auction, but subsequently the defendant sent a letter addressed on the face of it to Messrs. Frank Jolly and Co., who were the auctioneers, offering to purchase the house for £350, and stating that if his offer was accepted he would “sign contract in auction particulars.” Messrs. Jolly replied by letter, stating that on behalf of their client (who was the vendor), naming her, they accepted the offer, “subject to contract as agreed. We enclose draft contract.” The draft was identical with the contract embodied in the conditions of sale and endorsement, except that the draft stated the vendor’s name; but the defendant never signed it. It was held (1) that as the offer contained the names of both contracting parties (though one was only agent for an undisclosed vendor), in its acceptance there was a valid contract within the Statute of Frauds ; and (2; that the acceptance was absolute and unconditional, inasmuch as a form of contract definitive in all its terms was identified by the offer, and the signature to the form of contract was unnecessary.
No novel question of law arose in the action brought by Messrs. Warlters, Lovejoy and Telfer against Mr. George Marshall for commission on the sale of the White Hart Hotel, at Margate. The well-known Southampion-steeet public-house brokers are, however, to be congratulated upon the result of the proceedings, for it is -■ not always easy to demonstrate to a judge and jury the “ links of a chain” ־which, connects a vendor with a purchaser through one or two intermediate parties. Where this can be done satisfactorily a judgment iii favour of the claimant of commission is inevitable, and1, as a learned judge once observed, whether there are two links or 200 is quite immaterial. Mr. Mills, the hotel proprietor, who ultimately purchased the White Hart for £15,650, did not! give his evidence very clearly, and the plaintiffs’ counsel was properly scandalised when he declared that he did not know what was meant by “ particulars.”
MAISON DIEU HOUSE, DOVER.
To obtain an idea of the beauty or of the general situation of Dover, the visitor must-climb either the Oastle Hill or the Western Heights. The town itself lies in the valley between them, down* which runs the little stream of the Dour, giving its name to the Roman port and town of Dubraa, whence the modem Dover. Dover is supposed1 to have been the spot where Caesar’s men decided not ־to attempt a landing, owing to the steepness of the cliffs and the numbers of the inhabitants. After the conquest of Britain a Roman town was built here. The remains of a statue of exquisite workmanship, discovered during excavations in the Market-place in 1887, and the objects of art found in a field adjoining Dover College, point to the fact of the adornment of Dover in Roman times in a maimer at one time hardly suspected.
Little is recorded of Dover during the Saxon period, and the Northmen- are not known to have troubled it. It was burnt and suffered much at the Conquest, but afterwards soon rose in importance. The castle was enlarged and strengthened, and numerous churches and religious houses were built in the town. Dover became one of the “Keys of England” (the lock and key—“clavis et repagulum regni” *—it is called by Matt. Paris), and the strength , of its castle, which enabled Hubert de Burgh
On Tuesday the show was visited by H.R.H the Prince of Wales, who travelled by special train on the South-Eastern Railway and was met by the Mayor and Corporation in State, a guard of honour being furnished by the 1st Kent Yolunteer Battalion, and the escort by the West Kent (Queen’s Own) Yeomanry.
The Earl of Coventry, President of the Royal Society, Lord D-eerhurst, and Mr. F. S. W. Cornwallis, M.P., were also in attendance to receive hi's Royal Highness. The route to the show ground was thickly lined with spectators, and an enthusiastic reception was given to the Prince.
At the meeting of the Society, which followed the inspection of the show yard, the Prince was elected President of next year’s show, to be held at York, and his Royal Highness, after a gracious speech of thanks, performed a princely act of international courtesy —the conferring, of the Society’s badge of honorary membership upon two distinguished foreign delegates: The Marquis de Vogue, President of the Société des Agriculteurs de France, and Herr von! Amim, Chairman of the Direktorium of the Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft.
A parade of hunters, hackneys, and light horses and a tour of the show by his Royal Highness brought the events of the principal day of the show to! a close at four o’clock, when the Prince returned to town.
By a Barrister.
[The writer will answer any question relating to real property law, or to the practice of Agents. Auctioneers, and Surveyors, under " Queries and Eeplies. 'I
We have often had occasion to point out that a contract may be just as valid if it is made by correspondence, by a series of letters or documents, as if it is constituted by a single formal agreement or deed settled by counsel. We say “may be as valid” a-dvisedly, for though correspondence and negotiations can be looked at, as a whole, to see whether the parties to them have concluded a binding agreement or not, one can never tell where a lawyer may not find or endeavour to find a flaw in a transaction of this kind, whereas he will not, as a rule, be inclined to tamper lightly with a document which he knows has been duly considered and! drawn up by a brother erf the craft. A business man, in fine, may often be his own lawyer, and such a course has undeniable attractions, from ail economical point of view. At the same time, it has risks, of which the case of “ Walters v. Le Blanc,” which we report in another column, is an example. We venture to think that the average business man would have no doubt whatever in coming to the conclusion that the plaintiff here was in the right. ,So thought Mr. Justice Darling, who awarded him £300 damages for the breach of contract to purchase a house of which he complained, but the defence raised under the Statute of Frauds was, from the legal point of view, a dangerous one, and the learned judge did not hesitate to grant a stay of execution pending an appeal.
To summarise the details of the dispute, the action was brought to recover damages for alleged breach of contract by the defendant to purchase a house at West Grinstead belonging to the plaintiff. The letters ar.d memoranda, which, according to the plaintiff, constituted the contract, are quoted at length in our report. The! first o-f them (July 7, 1898) was addressed by Messrs. John Churchman and Sons, of Horsham, the plaintiff’s agents, to the defendant. It was headed, “Re Caryll Hurst, West Grinstead,” and proceeded to say that, “the owner of the above” had given the writers certain instructions as to the price of the pro-pe rty. Then we come to a memorandum (July II) which was signed by the defendant at Messrs.
Churchman’s offices, and which ran, “I, ----
agree to purchase ——, at the sum of £2,450,' and to clench ־the matter, Messrs. Churchman on the same day very properly and carefully wrote Mr. Le Blanc, “ We wired the owner, saying you had offered £2,450 .	.	. and
we, as agents for the owner, accept this offer.’ Could any ordinary, plain-dealing individual doubt that, under the circumstances, the intention of the parties was that Mr. Le Blanc should become the purchaser of Caryll Hurst for £2,450? As a matter of fact, indeed, Ihe original hitch merely arose in connection with the title, which was said to be rather complicated. The defendant, at any rate, withdrew1 from the purchase, and last week before Mr. Justice Darling it was argued on his behalf that the documents we have alluded to did not constitute a sufficient memorandum in writing to satisfy the Statute of Frauds, and that consequently the plaintiff’s claim must fail.
Counsel urged that the name of the vendor did not appear in the documents. It certainly did not appear expressly, and the omission would have been fatal—for how can there be an agreement between two parties, unless it
bridge for farm carts or waggons. It has a 10-ton capacity, a platform of 12ft. by 7ft., and a self-registering apparatus which prints in two standards. The farm weighbridge is not common. It is perhaps too costly, but it enables a tenant to test the value of his cattle and other stock, to weigh his own coal, corn, cake and manure, and is indispensable where experiments are conducted.
Mr. Thomas Eddlestone, of Blackburn, exhibited an improved chain-pump, which is fitted with rubber discs, three of which are carried by the chain in order to minimise the leakage of liquid down the tube.
Messrs. Barford and Perkins, Peterborough, had a combined boiler and steamer for farm or other work which is fitted over a furnace. The steamer is provided with tipping gear, and the whole thing is complete in itself, and very useful it must be to those who cook for swine or poultry feeding.
Messrs. Worrall and Co., of Liverpool, showed a cleverly constructed collapsible gate, which is of iron slat work, running top and bottom upon slides and shutting from a yard into eight inches. The gate is a most simple and useful exhibit-.
Messrs־. Anderson, of Bow and Belfast, exhibited a wooden lattice girder for sustaining the roof of a building in place of iron, and a form of roof covered with fellt, which is found to be substantial and economical. The girder is of pine -and the lattice work of spruce, the bow being made of bentwood. It is claimed that the girder costs 25 per cent, less than iron. The same firm exhibited what they term an insulated hop pocket. Each pocket, or bag, is lined with silicate cotton, the object being the preservation of the hop from deterioration.
The Harrison Company, of Stamford, had on view a new cultivator, with semi-circular tines, which go under the soil, lifting instead of dragging it. The springs are of new pattern and very strong, the tines are reversible and the depth -of work is easily regulated by a lever.
Mr. Walter Bourke, of Worsley, exhibited a milk cooler of novel construction. There are two horizontal cylinders, one within the other. The milk passes -over the surface of the inner cylinder, which is cooled, like that above it, by sprays of water, thrown out by perforated tubes. If the machine does all that is claimed for it, it should be -a valuable addition to the dairy.
Messrs. Mann and Chariesworth, of Leeds, exhibited a steam lorry able bo carry five tons up an incline of one in ten.
Messrs. Syer and Co., Wilson-street, London, had a very attractive exhibit in the shape of a combined portable work-bench and tool-box. The idea is to carry th׳e whole to the field for repairs, as in the case of the binder or mower at the present season. The bench has a box beneath with flapper lids, which when opened retain a horizontal position. The interior of the lids is fitted with tools, and requirements of every description, while a vice is easily fitted to the bench. The bench is, in a word, a small movable workshop.
Messrs. Bamford, of Uttoxeter, exhibited a chaffcutter with a patent self-feeder. How different from 30 years ago, or less, when a feeder was required to press the hay or straw into the machine at the risk of his fingers, while a second hand was required to cut with a single knife or blade which was only employed with success by the exercise of considerable strength. The material is carried into the jaws of the machine, into which the hand cannot enter, and the mouthpiece is llin. across.
Caillet’s Monorail system attracted interested companies, and consists of a single rail upon which running vehicles are balanced and drawn with ease and economy, no sleepers, ballasting or other special preparation! being required. The Monorail Portable Railway Company, Limited, obtained a silver medal for this exhibit at the Birmingham Show in 1898.
The various well-known firms of seedsmen were in strong array. Messrs. Sutton and Sons, of Reading, whose extensive and picturesque stand was close to the entrance to the show yard, had a remarkable display of fruiting tomatoes of different varieties in pots, and a brilliant collection of gloxinias, irises, scented peonies, sweet peas and other flowers, as well as the less decorative produce of the farm. Moat noticeable was a capital collection of new potatoes of Messrs. Sutton’s strains, also the instructive presentation of the principal meadow grasses both in foliage and in flower, and mangolds of this year’s growth side by side with roots well kept from last season’s crops.
On the other side of tlhe entrance gates Messrs. Carter and Co., of High Holborn, had a large and handsome stand, in which groups of lilies, ixias, perennial pyreithrums and annual flowers gave a brightness to the displav that farm produce alone could not afford. Plots of pasture grasses in growth, miniature lawns, a new forcing pea in the podding stage, mangolds kept well from last season, some very fine tomatoes, crossbred cereals, and a variety of garden vegetables are also noticeable.
Messrs. Webb and Son®, of Wordsley, Stourbridge, had another great stand, in whidh a comprehensive exhibit of farm produce and culinary vegetables was shown.