Who Owns London P.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3500, 23 March 1905, Page 3

Who Owns London P.

THE MONOPOLY OF A FEW FAMILIES. In an enligtening article in the “ Sunday Strand,” G. Gale Thomas shows that the most valuable part of London is owned by a comparatively few families, who draw enormous revenues from their holdings.

“ The total number of owners of London's land is found to be some 5800, and a very large portion, including tiie most valuable districts, is owned in great estates by a few families and great corporations. •• That something like a working agreement exists between these different landlords, or their agents who represent them, is more than probable, and they are able, by acting on a general plan, to impose conditions of tenure and rent which set the tone ot the land market and press heavily upon the landless classes of the community. “ The extent of the princely incomes obtained by the landlords from these estates it is impossible to ascertain, as there is no readiness to allow the 1 public to get information, and the investigations of public bodies are not welcomed. But it has been estimated that the three contiguous estates —the Eyre, Porhnan, and Portland—produce an annual income of about /T, 200,000. “ Upon the tailing in of the Porhnan leases in 1888, Mr Hunt, the agent, is said to have received for the landlord the sum of £1,250,000 for premiums ' upon the renewal of over 1700 leases. 1 The usual conditions of renewal of | these leases included the payment

down of a heavy premium, and the imposition of a greatly increased rent. In one instructive case a dressmaker i in Baker street had her ground rent 1 increased irom £lO 10s to £BO, was made to pay a fine of £IOOO, and was i further required to spend £SOO on the house. “ The rates in London have increased during the past thirty years from £4,000,000 per annum to | £10,000,000, or 150 per cent, but no | part of this increase has been borne by the owners of the land, the value of I which has increased in equal proper- | tion during the same time. “ The price of land has increased by leaps and bounds. In the suburbs i in recent times land in Fitzjohn’s | Avenua, Hampstead, realised £9600 | an acre, the agricultural value of which would probably not exceed £SO ! an acre, the balance of £0550 repre- I senting the unearned increment. I

“In the city and on central-sites ! arc at extraordinary figures. An out- | fitter in the Strand pays a rent of £Soo 1 a year, while a bootmaker in Cheapside pays £I2OO a year for a ground-floor shop and basement alone. The highest prices for the freehold of the sites are, of course, to be found in the centre of j the City, in the immediate neighbour- | hood of the Bank of England, a price j at the rate of over £3,250,000 an aero * being attained ; that is, £75 per square , foot, or over 10s per square inch 1 In Bond street a still higher price of £35 ; per square foot, or more than : £1,500,000 per acre has been reached. The 75,000 acres within the London | County Council area would, if used as agricultural land, yield no more than ! 7i00,000 a year rent. Yet at present tqcy yield nearly £20,000,000, owing to the necessities of a vast population for standing and sleeping room.” I