A HUGE LAND SALE

RUNNING INTO MILLIONS. DUKE OF BEDFORD'S ESTATE. (London correspondent of "Sydney Morning Herald " ; telegraphed from Fremantle.) • A land sale such as London has never before known has just been concluded. The Duke of Bedford has disposed of his Covent Garden property to Mr Harry Mallaby Deeley, M.P V for Harrow Division of Middlesex. The price obtained has not been stated, but it must' run into millions, and exceed by an enormous sum that given for any other single property. The announcement, which has been made on the authority of Maurice Beadel, who acted for the Duke of Bedford, is that Mr Mallaby Deeley has purchased the whole of the Duke of Bedford's Covent Garden estate. The sale includes such well-known properties as Covent Garden Market, Drury-lane Theatre, Royal Opera House, Waldorf Hotel, Aldwych Theatre, Strand Theatre, Bow street Police Court, several well-known printing offices, and the National Sporting Club. There is a Royal box at the Royal Opera House and also Drury Lane Theatre, the Strand, and Aldwych Theatre. The properties are situated in no fewer than 26 streets as follows:—Aldwych, Bedford-court, Bedford-street, Boat-street, . Broad-court, Burleighstreet, Catherine-street," Chandosstreet, Cross-court, Crown-court, Drury Lane, Exeter-street, Floral-street, Gar-rick-street, Henrietta-street, Jamesstreet, King-street, Longacre, Maidenlane, Martlett-court, New-street, "Rus-sell-street,- Southampton-street, Tavi-stock-street, "Wellington-street, and York-street. The estate is freehold, and extends to about 19 acres. It has been decided that tho price at which the property has passed ta Mr Mallaby Deeley will not be disclosed. Early in the present year the Duke of Bedford offered to sell two and a quarter acres of his Bloomsbury Estate as a site for proposed new buildings of the University of London. The price asked was £210,000, or roundly, £93,000 per. acre. On this basis the value of Covent Garden area would be about £l,800i000; but whem .it is remembered that the annual rental of Covent Garden Market is £20,000, and that upon the property stand four theatres, hotels, and other important buildings, it is obvious that the figure must be far higher. In addition to rentals, the Duke of Bedford has a right to levy tolls on vegetables, flowers, and fruit exposed for sale in the market, aS* well as on hundreds "of carts, which mostly in the early hours of the morning bring in the produce to be dealt with by stallholders. From this source ho receives something like £10,000 a year. Cherries are charged by the sieve, the amount being a halfpenny, while for oranges the toll is 4d a chest or 2d a box.- The methods of assessing rents to stallholders is by the square foot. Books might be written about the Covent Garden estate, which the Duke of Bedford has sold en bloc, so rich, is the ground in history and tradition. Some of the best-known buildings, streets, and byways are recalled below iri. association with the famous men who in the earlier days have, given them celebrity. Johnson arid Sheridan and Dryden, Harley and Russell; Garrick and Foote and Kemble —the names bring to mind a phase of life and work in a great city which in interest is second to none. Mr Mallaby Deeley is tho second son of Mr W. Clarke Deeley, of Curzon Parkj Chester. He is 50 years of age, and was educated at Shrewsbury and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took law honours. In 1885 he was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple, but'" has not practised. Mr Mallaby Deeley is, however, sometimes heard in Parliament. Formerly he was an assistant secretary to Mr Henry Chaplin.. This is by no means the first large deal .in property in which Mr H. Mallaby Deeley has been concerned, although it greatly exceeds in magnitude all his prvjous transactions of the kind. Besides being the owner of a number-of golf courses, he has within tho last few years acquired a number of important properties in London, on which hotels or residential buildincs are erected or about to be erected. He first came into,considerable .prominence in 1909, when he was at the head of the syndicate that bought Piccadilly Hotel. The price was said to be £500,000. He was also the purchaser of Stl James's Court, a large block of flats in Buckingham Gate. The price paid was £250,000. Since then he has effected the purchase of two other large projects.