THE RISE AND FALL OF LAND

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2025, 31 December 1888, Page 3

THE RISE AND FALL OF LAND

The "London Times" m an article contrasting the oontlnooua fail of land m Qrent Britain with the phenomenal advauoe of Australia, sustained byßrltlsh capital, gtyes a suggestive lllua. ration of the alngelar aUte of affairs that has been brought about. It ssya :An Australian gentleman, we we told, h»s just been offered for the sum of £50 000 a magnlfioent English estate of 1550 acres, with a really grand old mansion built by an eminent historical personage, a deer park, walled gardens, lawns, terraces, cedars, and six park lodges, one mile and a half from a railway station, and within SO miles of London. Allowing for a certain poetlo exaggeration la tbe manoer of the illustrious George Robins, this mait be admitted to bo an attractive picture, nor oan it be deni d that the soooeisful colonist retiring upon tbe amenities of this apparently enblemiehed survival of English rural life would have his lines oast m pleasant places. The pleasure, however, must be enhanced by running to the other stdo of tbe possible balancesheet. Tbe time colonist to whom this tempting offer was made had recently obtained £50,000— precisely the amount wbloh would have enabled him (if he had chosen) to aomplete the purchase — for an estate comprising "500 acres of poor soil, with a nice ootuge on it," some 26 miles distant from Melbourne."