196 REW, DORSET 



Purchase of Holdings. 



The price at the auction was 5,050 ; tillages 

 and tenant right came to 490 ; road-making to 

 340 ; 120 was spent on wells, 129 on survey 

 and valuation of plots, and ll on law costs; the 

 total amounting to 6,140, or about 18 per acre. 



The land was taken up by twenty- seven pur- 

 chasers. A few acres of the best, facing south and 

 nearer the village, fetched 36 per acre. About 

 two-thirds averaged 12 to 15 per acre, the lowest 

 price being 7. The remaining third averaged 

 from 20 to 22. 



One-tenth of the purchase-money was paid down ; 

 the remaining nine-tenths was to be paid by half- 

 yearly instalments spread over nine years, 4j per 

 cent, interest being charged on outstanding purchase- 

 money, and paid half-yearly. Many plots were paid 

 for outright, and at the end of the nine years all the 

 money had been paid off. 



Sir Robert Edgcumbe draws especial attention 

 to the fact that there was as keen a demand for the 

 poorer land in an inconvenient situation as there 

 was for the better portions, the price, of course, 

 being correspondingly lower. This is to be noted, 

 for the general idea amongst land agents is that if 

 a farm is sliced up, the worst land will be left on 

 the owner's hands ; in many cases this apprehension 

 has been sufficient to deter a landlord who has been 

 otherwise anxious to dispose of a farm in this way. 

 Sir Robert Edgcumbe points out that the know- 



