138 THE LANDED INTEREST. 



paid into the public Exchequer, and a fixed sum 

 f 385,000 is, in lieu of it, annually paid to the 

 Queen for the maintenance of her State, and for 

 the salaries and expenses of Her Majesty's 

 Household. In the period of forty years since 

 the commencement of the present reign, all ex- 

 penses, both public and private, have largely 

 increased, but no new demand for the Queen her- 

 self has been made on the public for an increase 

 of the Civil List. And as the hereditary estates 

 are now yielding to the public Exchequer more 

 than the Exchequer pays to the Queen, the 

 remarkable and probably unique example is 

 presented in this country of a great Sovereign 

 whose household and Royal dignity are thus 

 maintained without taxing her subjects. 



I am indebted to the Earl of Powis for the 



following interesting particulars in the business 



relations of the Crown with its agricultural 



General tenants : The average rental of the agricultural 



conditions 



on which land of the Crown Estates is at present rather 



the Crown 



Farms are more than 323. 6d. per acre. Nearly the whole of 



let. 



it is let in farms of various sizes, on agricultural 

 leases of 21 years' duration, subject to the 



