DUKE OF PORTLAND'S ESTATE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3428, 6 March 1920, Page 2

DUKE OF PORTLAND'S ESTATE.

Sl’.'l.LT.\*G T 0 ESCAPE "I‘.-\\'.~".'{‘TH:‘T

The l)uke of l.’or-tluud. who t‘\\'ll_l§ 150,000 acres in England and Scotland and several country seats, is regarded as one of the \\'ealthic-st peers in Eng—land, but it is announced that he finds it necessary to curtail his expenditure owing to the heavy taxation imposed during the past few _\ie'.-xrs. Income tax and super—i;lx on incomes over £IO,OOO a year amount to 10/6 in the pound, and ihe death duties on eszmtes Over $152,000,000 in value are ~10 per cent. It will therefore be apparent that large landlords, if they wish ‘to pass on their estates unencumbered to their heirs, must bring their expenses considerably bewoy the pre-war siandarxl. As has already been explained, there is going on throughout England and Scotland a revolution in land ownership on :1 scale which is without pre‘cedent in Bri‘li'sh history. Many of the great lieretlitorgr landlords are selling large :11'(‘3..~ of their estates. Others are closing up some of their country Seats. and some with only one large Colll‘-il‘_V house to keep up are living in portion of the building, and closing the I'emainder in order to lessen the expense of upkeep.

It is announced on behalf of ‘Lhel Duke of Portland that a large portioni of his properties in .~\_\'rshire is to be!‘ Sold and that the upkeep of his chief countryseat. Welbeck A'bbey, in Nottingliainsliire, is to be reduced by the clismissal of some of the g‘urdeners,‘ road repairers, and other ser\'anrs.l \\"elbeck Abbe)’, which staiids in :I.‘ magnificent park eight miles in circumference, is said -to be the fines: wooelland domain in England. \Vithin the park there ‘is a lake :1 mile long. Onp of the chief features of the ostatg is a famous “peach wall," which is 1000 feet in length. There are iifteeii miles of underground passages at \/Velbeck Abbey. Most of the passages were made during‘ the lifetime of the ea:een"ric fifth Duke of I’ol'tlalld_. :1 cousin of the present Duke, who sueeeed_ed him. ‘it was x'ounu:l the the fifth Duke of Portland and his eceex:ntl'icit'les that tllp’fa.l]]oll.< ‘l)ruce case, which was linall disposed of about ten years ago, was built up. ;\-lany Australians were interested in the claim of Druce to be the son of the fifth Duke of Portland, having subscribed ‘to the t'ui:«l raised to enable Druee, who hitd ll‘.’:‘«.l in .-Xustralia, to prosecute hfs claims in the Englisli couits. A In:\s.~= ot' evidence was produced in. court to supper: the contention that Druce fa-th-re, who kept a t'ul'niture shopin Baker Street, London, was identical with the eccentric Duke of Portland. In the end the claim rested on the, contention that the cofiin in ‘the grave at Higligate C‘enietery, where Druce, senior. was supposed. to have been buried, did not contain a corpse, as the Duke, in order to bring to an end his double life as the Duke and Druce, senior, had arranged a fiotitious funeral for himself as Druce. But when 'the eofiin was exhumed by order of the court. and was found to contain a corpse corresponding to that of Druce, senior, as he had been known in the flesh. the ‘claim collapsed, and several of the wiinesses who gave ‘evidence in support of the claim were pi-nsemi-ted for perjury‘.