NEW NOBILITY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12765, 17 June 1911, Page 11 (Supplement)

NEW NOBILITY.

MILLIONAIRES OF BUSINESS BUYING UP RURAL ENGLAND.

'The coming of the new nobility, the "captains .of industry," who hare ;recently been ennobled as the reward of their commercial pre-eminence^ has necessarily meant a. now order in. the" old established rules and customs that have for centuries,.guided the feudal people of old -England. In every county and in alnto3t every district, during the last, few years broad acres held for generations by ancient families have been purchased' by princes of [commerce, who, have in some . instances taken their new titles from the historic home they have acquired.' Thesa transfers of land; ownership and the application of the business mind to hereditary estates have brought abmjt startling revolutions. In many districts the upkeep of estates has borne heavily on the impoverished purses of noble families who have: never engaged in trade. When circumhianees have forced them to part with hereditary acres, the estates have fallen into the hands of .men who are aljle and willing to expends money lavishly on' works of adaptation and alteration, which must be of great-bene-* fit +o thousands of village dependents. In countless "little'villages scattered tip. and down jthe. country these changes, mean much.more than tl^e city dweller^ j with his modern, ideas, .can appreciate. The aristocrats* of tKe land have real-*i lsed their duty to the villagers about them, and the villagers, as one man, have been'oval to their, patrons. -• i Each side has had its well-established responsibilities and privileges. The ruling family at the hall; has seen that the villagers are well housed and provided with employment on their -laud, and the; lady of-.the house has looked after them in sickness. They have been: iree to roam over the estates at will and to take their troubles to '-'the master.''.: who actedto them in the triple capacity of friend, landlord and magistrate. But a great change has bean gradually taking . place. Hardly a month passes without "the announcement that such and such an estate, "with manor houses.farms and villages," is to bs dis-po-o:T of by- public auction or private treaty. In recent months estates have been announced for sale on behaif of Kail Manvors, tiie Karl of Abingdon, Earl Sondes, the Dowager Countess of .Carnarvon 3 the Duke of Westminster, the Duke of Sutherland, Lord j Tcllemache, Lord Colebrooke, Lord llchester, and the Marquis of Graham, to mention only a few.

Lord Covrdray's jiurchase of Cowdray Park, the historic home of the Earls .of Egmont. is a notable case in point. Cowdray'Park lies in the beautiful Midhurst country, snrrounded by the estates: of Lord Lsconfield, of the Duke of Richmond, and the Duke of Norfolk, :. ,

Lord Cowdray, after paying, it is said, half a .million, sterling for his pew home, is spending many thousands of pounds in renovating the mansion. He has found work i'or the villagers ar. well as for an army of workmen from 'London.' He means his new estate of 13,000 acres, with its private park of GOO aero? and its herd of 500 (ioer. to ha worthy of a magnate of the* land as well as a peer of commerce. But while the villagers will leap great financial benefit from Lord Cowdray's ■coming, the liberty of this stately- park -- the Eppinji Forest of Midhurst—-is no longer their privilege. They are peremptorily told to "Ivee-p off the-grass." * Lord Cowdrav, is also the lord of Dunooht, in Aberdeenshire, formerly tbo seat of Sir John Forbes of Echt. Tho millionaire contractor also owns the Paddockhufet estate at Worth, and has another seat there.

Lord Pirn'e, the wealthy chairman of ?jlessrs Harlanct and Wolff, is another millionaire owner of land. He purchased tho famous Lea. Park estate, now Juiorn m Witiey. Court,.,which- cost the laic Mr Whitaker Wright £700,000, with its wonderful glass hall under tho lake ,and its five lodges costing £2COO each

Lord Joicev, tho great coal owner of the north, whose nickname in his owd country is "Old King Cole," is a further example of the new nobility ■of the land. The son of a Newcastle engineer, and for twenty years a Radical member of Parliament, he became the proud owner of the Gregvnog estates in Montgomery purchased from Lord Sudeley, and Ford Castle, an old Border seat in Northumberland, for many years tho home of the late Louisa Marchioness of Waterford. In the same county 'he owns Longhirst, Morpeth. Viscount Iveag'h. head of the great brewing firm of Guinness, purchased the estates of Elveden, near Tbetford, consisting of 2Q,OfX) acres. A visitor to Elveden Hall oneo described it as "appallingly luxurious." Tlie Maharajah Dhuleep* Singh, who was master at Elveden before Lord Iveagh, brought native artists all the way from India to decorate the interior as an Oriental palace. Kings and princes have been f/uestsat Lord Iveagh's big shoots over tho Elveden estates, where, as an interesting example of tho new order, the coverts are linked up by telephono. Lord Fumes-!, another "captain of industry." is said to have- invested more than a million founds sterling in landed property in various counties from Yorkshire to Wiltshire. Some years ago, while still Sir Christonher Furness, he was described as "Lord of Cundall, Lord of Grantley and 30.000 acres." ]i 6 began life as a grocer's assistant, and is now the patron of at least seven livings, while Grantley Hall, his seat on the River Skell, near Ripon—from which he takes his. titl<\ Lord Furness of .Grantley—is one of the most charming places in the whole of England.

So the acquisition of the land by f.he millionaires of commerce and the Side of. estates by the old nobility continues. It is for the future to tell the result of this rural upheaval.