LUNDY ISLAND SOLD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 4 January 1926, Page 10

LUNDY ISLAND SOLD.

NO' TAXES PAID. Subject to the sanction oi the court, it is understood, Lundy isnand, in the Bristol Lhianuei, has been bought by Mr. Martin Lbie.s Hannan tor a price stated to- be £16,000. Mr-. Harman, who is chairman of public companies, makes if quite clear that his new venture has no business connection. •‘There is no difference at all, ’ he .sa-iu in an interview, “between my purchase and the buying of a house —omy in nn ease it happens to ibe an island.” Lundy, whicli is three miles long and .liiailf a mile wide, has an area <>i 1047 acres. Its tenure Is a- curious one for these days, being, in fact, reminiscent of Feudal tunes. Successive owners have held practically complete sway, exercising unique nights,’ widen continue -to the present. A further advantage to its possessor is th"o the island' is unrecognised for Imperial taxation or for country or municipal rating (purposes. 'Lire normal population is between 40 an<l 50 persons, mainly consisting of the staffs ol the Admiralty and the post office, the light-house keepers, and employees on the farm and ait the hotel, which was- formerly the Manor House. One. of the more famous owners of Lundy was Sir Diehard 'Grenville, .to whom it came throngii his marriage to Mary St. Leger, one of the St. Legcr.s of Amery. In 1836 Lunday was purchased by Mr. \Y. H. Heaven for £1)000, and was sold by his son's nephew in 1918 to the present vendor, Sir. August Laugham Christie, a descendant of John Cleveland, of Tiaplcy, who bought it from Sir Robert Dalle, in 1787. It was on (lie Shutter Dock to the south of the island that Kingkley laid the final scene of the tragedy of Westward Ho 1 and there his Majesty's ship Montague went aground on May 30, 1906.