COVENT GARDEN

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 147, 18 December 1913, Page 7

COVENT GARDEN

PURELY PRIVATE INVESTMENT NOT BACKED BY A SYNDICATE. (By Telegraph.— Press ( Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, 17th December. At the rate Australia paid for adjoining land, the price of the Duke of Bedford's land at Covent Garden, purchased by Mr. Mallaby-Deeley, woulU be £9,000,000. Other estimates place tho purchase money at £1,800,000, plus the capital value of the Covent Garden tolls —which produce £25,000 annually— the ground rent of tho Opera House, three theatres which cost £24,000. When the founder of tho Bedford family obtained tho land, tha estimate of its value was £126 8s annually. The present Duke has sold 19,000 acres in Cambridgeshire (in 1909) and 17,752 acres .in Taviatock (1911). Mr. Mallaby-Deeloy's father is a wealthy Liverpool merchant. Mr. Frank Curzon, a theatrical manager, is a younger brother. Mr. Deeley, interviewed, states that he is not backed by a syndicate; the purchase was entirely a private investment. The property would not be sold to a company. .The Duke of Bedford does not desire to disclose tho purchase price. He says he does not fear Mr. Lloyd George's land proposals, bo long as they do not cause downright confiscation. DUKE OF BEDFORD'S ESTATES. REDUCED BY~OVER HALF. (Received December 18, 11« a.m.) LONDON, 17th December. In nine years the Duke of Bedford has reduced his ownership of land from 87,000 to 41,000 acres. All the tenants at Covont Garden are weekly ones. They regret losing a good master. »