"SELLING OUT."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 2 May 1922, Page 3

"SELLING OUT."

liARjD-LT PEERAGE

HitSTUiiiO K_\v_.i_iSH ESTATES IM

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Once the scene or princely balls, banyucca. <__iv icuptiuus wren tne King una vlueeu uieiii^ives its gaests in gorgeous lancy u_e_,s, tlie London palace -oi i,__e __>ui_.<j oi jjevonshire is to-uay a dismai bam, ue^ring in trie •. o»u*cya_*a agents iiu_iees tiiat iAiociaim it a desiruoie bite ior uuiiauig operations. I'nere are a.so rumours that Urosvenor House is m L__e ixiaiite.. i'or tiie L>o-/ei-nnieir_ mast lictub raise money, seeing that Britain's national war ueot leaciies tne s.u^o.iug total oi £b,UIX>,U')-) <X*b. iv the rural areas irom Westmoreland doivn to Devon historic country seats are changing or have cnange« nanus, writes an American observer. The house agents have pocketed hundreds or thousands ot pounds in commissions. At least one of these has himself owned a title- his paratial offices in Hanover Square are indeed a sign of revolutionady times and a vindication of tlie adage that ''It's an ill winds that biou-s nooody good!" What nas happened to the nobility? They are all hard up. "Som<_. oi us," Lord Rledisioe, in our coiiii.iaatively impoverished condition might even welcome the nationalisation of the land, given due and. prober comuensation." Taxation has done it. After meeting all claims of the State and general maintenance, the owner or biroad acres is left with no more than four shillings and sixpence m ihe pound on his gross income.

LAND NATIONALISATION NEXT, Lord Selborne likewise voiced the hardsnips which beset those of wealth and rank. Apart from the ueatn- j duties (.which took the sum of JLTAKj.- • (XX) from the a millionaire's estate the] other day; the great landowners suffer | severiy irom the burcten of local jates. ; in consequence, many of tnem find they must needs turn to. They are seii-ng t-Kjfr ancestral nomes, vv.«th all the historic furniture, the valuable pictures' and tapestry, bronzes, china and othtr subjects and works of art. "By a &r.iall turn of fortune's uheei," is one peer's lament, "we might lind tiie Jvaoour Party returned witii a majority to the House of Commons; ;md by our Constitution of to-day, they .could in a cpupJe of years nationalise \no la_.u.. Such action would put an end to all privilege and .aste until the workers themselves formed a new :<ristociacy, as has happened again and again m history, even in the United States.

A glance at the "Complete Peerage,-' just edited by the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, shows the new dise.steem in the which hereditary nobility is held in an ultrademocratic age. Here we find caustic strictures upon "peers in search of lees, allowing themselves to be put forward as figurehead of commercial enterprises, of which they have no special knowledge, and for which they hare no •special training. . . One man pro-fosses to manage 52 different concerns, and no less than eight apuear as direct hi a ever 401"

"In this 'Peerage with Pepper,' r.s it has been called, a fierce light is cast upon the ancient order of "quality." A noble lord is dismissed as a big, blustering man, too overbearing to be socially agreeable. Another peer's lapse is mercilessly detailed, with the date and facts of his conviction "for being drunk and disorderly in Picadilly." In some cases the.seeds of present povery appear to have been laid in mid-Victorian times, when (as the Hon. Vicary Gibbs reminds us) a certain ■marquis "encumbered his estates by heavy expenditure in racing." "ONE DOES WHAT ONE CAN."

It is no wonder, therefore, that unuvy of the present bearers of' crests and quarterings hire, out tiieir motor cars, or even tane in paying guests at houses of historic renown. Lord Lyveden became the paid conductor of Continental.' tours, as well as a soc:al "draw" on board steamers engaged in Mediterranean pleasure cruises. One great lady runs a business in antiques in Baker street. The Coumfess Annesley has an interest in'the smart millinery shop of "Pauline in the Brompton road; and she has now taken active part in receiving customer^ in the shop. Lady Marjorie Dalrymple, a s'ster of the Earl of Stair, as a war-time nurse, handled suede in the manufacture of temporary artificial limbs for disabled soldiers. She has now just returned home after a business trip to the United States in connection with the Moorland Suede Company, a trading concern of her own devising, which designs and makes women's skirts, bats, coats and gloves. I

Gone, apparently, is that veneration for mer£ social rank which made _.is valet ask Metternich, on the monow of his elevation to the rank of pnnce: "Will your Highness wear the same suit as your Excellency -out on -"esterday?" PEERS ON THEIR OWN PLIGHTS. Consider the Earl of . Meat among his workpeople of Kilruddery, in County Wicklow. His Lordship, was explaining how an ancient earldom was left with exactly £209 a year to keep up appearances. In the days b-.fore a 6s income tax and. super tax Lord Meath was able to scrape along and ••pay his way." I take that phrase from his own swan song at liilrad'Jcry. But now he hopes and prays that prosperity and peace may come to Ire la ad, so that he may restore the home of h.s fathers to "its ancient condition jnd prestige." Then we find the Marquis o. Noi*h~ anipton telling a similar-taie to his ietainers when returning thanks for a wedding gift. "We are passing through difficult times," he said. ''1 try to excuse myself," he went on. 'becar.se I feel that people must hate me My grandfather had a good deal of money to play with. My father _iad some, too. .But I have none. I have, iu-ieei. to live on bqrrowed money so as to employ you at present wages. Such moneys will have to be repaid, but I don't quite know when that will be possible."

Lord Northampton is lucky to be able to raise these convenient loans. Titled persons of the other sex are obliged to put advertisements in the "agony columns" of the fashionable newspapers, offering to undertake the chaperonage of young girls during the London season, the decoration of furnishing of houses, the planning and conducting of foreign tours, etc. Then who have the money? The magnates of wholesale industry, notwithstanding the universal depression. Four members of the Coats family, of thread lords, left millionaire fortunes within less than three years. George Courtauld, the silk crepe man, left £2,146,695. Charles Morrison's wealth amounted to £10,936,666. These men, and their fellows of coal and ships and steel; in turn become the new peers whom the King delighteth to honour.