CHANGE IN ENGLAND

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 113, 5 January 1932, Page 2

CHANGE IN ENGLAND

OWNERS SELLING ANCESTRAL ESTATES AND HISTORIC HOMES The old Enflish squirearchy is doomed. England's stately residences and historic homes are disappoaring fast. London's exclusive elubs are losing members every day. The president of the Chai'tered Surveyors' Institute reveals that 40 country mansions, built in a more spacious era, have been transformed into- schools and colleges. Over 20 have become other institutions. A dozen are now golf, country, and flying clubs; a dozen more have been demolished. It is pointed out that five-sixths of the land in Great Britain in 1900 was occupied under a system of landlord and tenant. That amount is now two-thirds and is rapidly shrinking. Many owners are selling their estates to professional breakers-up for unsentimental disposal, greatly affecting country folk, who are often forced to purchase their cottages at high figures. The disappearance of the squire also means that sympathy in individual problems is lacking, and no Lady .Bountiful is there to assist the vil- : lage social activities. The most -serious aspect is the increasing unemployment. This continual dissipation of the large agricultural estates is regarded as a national misfortune, dis-t.tn-bing the valuable yeoman tradition. The closing of the Junior Athenaeum Club at the end of the year indicates the situation in which, owing to the dwjndling.membership and reduced spending power of members, many of the London clubs are placed. Two others, now being run without profit, meet shortly to consider the future. The Junior Athenaeum catered for famous professional and business men for 70 years. A leading club secretary says that the present situation of club life is tragic.