AND TEE DUKES OF RICHMOND. 191 



and refreslinient in the maintenance and improvement 

 of his great inheritance. 



Four hundred and two substantial and roomy 

 cottages, with gardens attached, show how the 

 labourers are housed on the Goodwood Estate. 



Upon the Gordon Estates his Grace has expended, 

 since 1860, in building and improving cottages, no 

 less a sum than £28,850, as stated by him before 

 the Royal Commission on Agriculture, on the 7th of 

 June, 1894. It goes without saying that in every- 

 thing relating to the agricultural interest the Dukes 

 of Richmond have always been leaders, and the 

 present Duke is no exception to the rule. He 

 upholds the principle of freedom of contract on both 

 sides, tempered with a readiness to remove diffi- 

 culties from the tenants in advance times ; and one 

 result of this equitable method is that in many cases 

 his holdinsfs remain in the same families for several 

 generations. 



From 1879 up to 1894 he made upon the Good- 

 wood Estate reductions in rent to the amount of 27 

 per cent., and in 1894, of 37 per cent., which last 

 concessions amount to about £4000 per annum. 

 Upon the Gordon Estate his Grace has stated he 

 had, since 1860, expended £198,156 ; viz. £126,245 

 on farm buildings ; on cottages, £28,856 ; on drainage, 

 £43,055. The abatements of rent from 1879 to 

 1894 amounted to .£88,198, and have now reached 



