ENCUMBERED ESTATES 1 43 



originally for ;!^78o3 and mortgaged for ^^"5000, the 

 highest bid at a sale was ^3600. ^ 



For a farm near Cambridge costing in 1874 £yyoo, 

 mortgaged for ^6000, the mortgagee would take ;^20C)0 

 now. Another farm bought for ;^ 10,000 in 1874, 

 mortgaged for ^8000, now offered for ;^3500. 



Similar illustrations from Suffolk show even more 

 astounding depreciation. 



A farm bought in 1893 for ;^ 13,000, and saddled with 

 three mortgages, was sold by the first mortgagees for 

 ;^i8oo, a loss of 80 per cent, while the other mortgagees 

 lost everything. 



Another foreclosure sale shows a loss of 85 per cent, 

 of the amount of the mortgage. 



In such districts and on such estates there is complete 

 paralysis, and no hope of reconstruction except by the 

 land passing to new and stronger hands. 



Mr Speir states how a North Ayrshire factor got over 

 the difficulty in its less aggravated form. Heavy 

 mortgages left no margin for indispensable new 

 buildings, but the tenants were induced to build them 

 by a deduction from the agreed rent sufficient to pay 

 7^ per cent, on the outlay. " In this way the landlord 

 succeeded in erecting new buildings without seriously 

 trenching on his limited income, while the tenant 

 received fair interest, and got his capital back by the 

 end of the lease." 



Suggestions are also made that annuities charged on 

 estates should rise and fall with the letting value of the 

 estates, and that there should be much greater freedom 

 than that given under the Settled Land Act, 1882, to 

 sell part of a property and use the proceeds in improving 

 the rest of the estate. 



Another suggestion of great practical importance 

 bearing on this subject is that the life owner should be 

 entitled to the absolute ownership of all improvements 

 he makes on the estate. This is not only just in itself, 

 but must be a strong inducement to many owners to 



^Wilson Fox, Lincoln, App. B. 4, p. 154, 



