THE MARQUIS OF BUTE AND THE CARDIFF DOCKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 69

THE MARQUIS OF BUTE AND THE CARDIFF DOCKS.

There is no such property in the world as that of Lord Bute at Cardiff, albeit the neighbouring estate of Lord Windsor, which once belonged to the same owner, runs it hard. The grandfather of the present Marquis dild a great to develop the property ; but it was not until the minority of the late Marquis, who succeeded to the title at three years of age, that the work began to assume gigantic proportions. This was when the trustees of the property gave notice of their intention to apply to Parliament for power to extend the dock accommodation of the port of Cardiff by creating two new docks and a tidal harbour.

There were those at the time who considered that such an enormous expenditure of a minor's money on an enterprise necessarily in a large degree speculative was not justifiable, and we know of a Peer who, being a relative of the Marquis, declined to sit on a committee of the House of Lords regarding the matter, not feeling etisposed to liav^ any responsibility in it.

It was generally und-erstoodt that the main promoter of these stupendous works was the then agent of the Welsh— jWoperty, Mr Boyle, who was regarded by many as dangerously go-ahead, and this opinion gathered force a few years later, when, in 1878, troubles set in, and great ironworks were closed in Glamorganshire. Bu Mr Boyle, who was indefatigable — he at one time visited the President of the United States with a view to shipping interests connecting New York and Cardiff — was destined to be justified by events. The Earldom of Bute only dates from the reign of Anne, and the first Earl became, a year or two after he received his title, one of the bitter es opponents of the Act of Union. He was not a very considerable person, nor was it till the third) Earl arrived on the scene that the title became famous. His rise is alleged to have risen from a rainstorm -which came on after Egham races, and determined Frederick Prince of Wales, who had attended the races, to delay his departure for Cliveden, where he was staying. To kill the ennui, he wished! for a game of cards, ana a courtier came to Lord,' Bute and begged him to take a hand. Within a short time Lord Bute became the chief personage in the Prince's entourage ; he was in quite as much favour with the Princess of Wales as with her husband, and ultimately he became a foremost political power in the State during the first years of the regin of George in.

Lord Bute had' no English or Welsh property, though he subsequently acquired Luton Hoo, where — he was devoted to art — he formed a very fine collection of pictures and objets dart. The vast Welsh property came through his descendant's marriage with a great Glamorganshire heiress.

The present generation can scarcely realise the extraordinary interest which centred in the late Marquis of Bute at the outset of his career, and which found notable expression in Lord Beaconsfield's romance of "Lothair." There was ind&ed about him very much that appealed to the romantic and imaginative. In his childhood a conflict raged) between the legal authorities of England and Scotland as to

which had the right to take charge of the lonely little millionaire Marquis which attracted the world's attention, and then his going " over to Rome " at Oxford at once made him the observed! of all observers. Then came his marriage, and never did that of a subject" create such an ado. The Spectator, commenting on it at the time, said : Lot hair — otherwise the Marquis of Bute — was married on Tuesday to Lady Corisande, Miss Gwendoline Howard. The ceremony was performed by Cardinal Grandison, Archbishop Manning. Mass was said by Monsignor Catesby, and the novelist who has described, exalted, and satirised) them all, Mr Disreali, was one of the five witnesses who signed the register. The London journals give whole pages to the account of the ceremonial, and the Western Mail actually *devotes 30 columns — each longer than one of the Standard's — to the wedding, etc. We have no objection. The Marquis of Bute is really a personage in the State, but do not let us again laugh at the place assigned* to gilded upholstery in " Lothair."

Disraeli makes Coningsby say, as he drives for the first time into the courtyard of Monmouth House, "This grandfather of mine is a great prince ! " But t&e grandfather was small potatoes financially to the owner of the Bute docks. There can be no question that an. extraordinary good fortune has hitherto attended the magnificent ventures wljich Mr Boyle and Sir W. Lewis have- fostered.