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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4288, 17 December 1874, Page 2

A correspondent of the Hoharton Mercitry amused himself on " a wet afternoon" by culling curious statistics from the " Valuation Bolls of Scotland, published by Act of Parliament, session 1874." From this roll it is found that the gross annual value of the 19,496,132 statute acres of which the " Kingdom of Scotland is composed is £14,797,139, tho population being 3,300,018. The largest extent of land is held by the Duke of Sutherland, whose acreage is 1,176,343 acres. The next estate is that of the Duke of Buccleuch, who owns 421,946 acres. Then comes Sir; James Matheson (once of Matheson, Jardine, and Co., the well-known China merchants), who has 406,070 acres, chiefly in the Outer Hebrides. The Earl of Seafield 'follows, with 305.854. Then comes Mr. Matheson of Ardross (Rossshire), of Alexander Matheson and Co., in the China trade, who has 220,433 acres ; followed by the Earl of Fife, with 217,098 ; the Duke of Athole, with 195,000 ; his neighbor, the Earl of Bredalbaue, with 19J,504 ; and the Duke of Argyle, with 175,114. The Duke of Hamilton, of whom it was said fifty years ago that he could ride from sunrise to sunset without leaving his own land, possesses 151,035 acres. The least estate among the nobility is that of Lord Blantyre, which only extends to 4449 acres. Among the commoners (after the Mathesons) the largest estates are owned thus : Mackenzie, of Gairloch (Ross-shire), 1C4,650 acres ; Maeleod of Macleod (Skye, Inverness), 141,679;BaillieofDoehfour(Inverness),141,148; Macintosh of Macintosh (Inverness), 124,181 ; Ross of Balnagown (Ross-shire), 110,445 ; Gordon of Cluny (Aberdeen and Inverness), 104,799 ; Cameron of Loeheil (Inverness), 109,574 ; and Grant of Ballindalloch (Inverness), 103,373. The smallest estate is that of Mr. Dixon, ironmaster, of Govan, 1642 acres, but its annual value is £16,400. The richest among the peers is tlie Duke of Buccleuch, the annual value of whose estates is chronicled at £181,775. Then come the following :—Duke of Hamilton, £129,463 ; the Earl of Seafield, £71,696 ; the Earl of Fife, £69,387 ; the Duke of Sutherland, ,£56,395 ; the Duchess of Sutherland (the heiress of the house of Cromartie), £11,792 ; the Earl of Stair, £51,100 ; and the Duke of Argyle, £50,842. The poorest lord (so far as Scottish property is concerned) is the Earl of Minto, whose 8633 acres only yield him £6BBB. Of the commoners, the richest is Oswald of Auchincruive (Ayr and Kirkcudbright), with £33,900 ; and the next, Johnstone of Rachills (Dumfries), with£27,Bß4. Tile poorest is Sir James Grant of Ballindalloch, whose 103,373 acres in Strathspey (the land of music and honey) only bring him in an annual £4530. Yet Sir James Grant has had the spirit to expend as much as £6O an acre in improving his rude paternal acres. The chronicler whose labors we have availed ourselves of gives the estate of our late Governor, Sir James Fergusson, at 22,630 acres (Ayrshire and Midlothian), the annual value of which is £13,534.