PRODUCED BY MAN. 789 



M. de Lavergne, in his work on the ' ficonomie rurale de la 

 France depuis 1789,' does not mention the name of any individual 



* As regards the depreciation in agricultural value caused by alkali works, a great 

 deal is to be said. 



' Pages 8 and 9 of the Keport. Major Cross, " for seven years a member of the 

 Widnes Local Board, and five years its chairman," states the average selling value of 

 land in and about the present site of Widnes in 1854 not to have exceeded 50^. per 

 acre. The greater part of the site of the town and works of Widnes was bought in 

 i860 at from 30?. to 40?. per acre. Since that time favourable sites within half a mile 

 of Widnes have been sold at the rate of i6ooZ., 2400Z., and 4800^. per acre, 



'Land at Ditton, a mile and a half from Widnes, which in 1858 was not worth 60I. 

 per acre, was sold for 300^., and of late particular lots in Ditton and Crouton, the one 

 being two miles and a half, the other three and a half, from Widnes, were sold at 

 600?. per acre. These purchases were made for building cottages, villas, &c. As 

 regards letting land for agricultural purposes. Major Cross adduced several extracts 

 from the poor-rate books, showing that the estimated rental of land situated near the 

 works had steadily and often largely increased. For instance, at Cuerdley, on which 

 the principal Widnes works are built, and which contains 1573 acres, mainly the 

 property of Sir Richard Brooke, the estimated value of agricultural land per acre was, 

 in 1861, il. 125. 7^.; 1871, il. i6s. 3^.; 1875, 2I. 3s. At Ditton the value of land 

 for agricultural purposes had risen during the same period from il. I3«. per acre to 

 2,1. 5s. 'jd. (page 9). 



* Major Cross meets the allegation of the deteriorated value of farm produce, by 

 stating that in the near neighbourhood of Widnes milk sells at from 2>d. to 4c?. a 

 quart ; hay at from 61. to 8Z, per ton. He states he has known hay and straw grown 

 within a mile of Widnes fetch the highest price in the Liverpool market, and that in 



1875 the Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural Society gave to the tenants of a farm 

 of 80 acres within two miles of Widnes the prize for the best cultivated land. 



'Page 10. "Mr. Wigg, while admitting the damage done in past times to Sir R. 

 Brooke's estate, asserted that the value of his property, through the proximity of the 

 alkali works, had enormously increased." That estate consists of 1200 acres on the 

 Lancashire side and 5600 on the Cheshire side ; and Mr. Wigg stated his reason for 

 believing that the selling value of the Lancashire estate was at this moment greater 

 than that of the two estates together in i860. 



' Mr. H. Beswick and Mr. H. Linaker, both agents to important estates near the 

 works at Runcorn, Weston, and Widnes, and long and intimately connected with the 

 district, bore witness to the same eflfect as Major Cross. Both, while admitting 

 occasional visitations from gas, and consequent injxiry, declare that they have never 

 had any difficulty in finding suitable tenants at invariably increased rates. " I can 

 more readily," says Mr. Beswick, "let land at better rents within 5 or 6 miles of 

 Runcorn than I can on other portions of Lord Cholmondeley's estates 20 miles away. 

 . . Within the last few years I have refused 4. a statute acre for land for agricultural 

 purposes close to Widnes works. The rentals on the property in the neighbourhood 

 of the works under my care have gradually increased during my time, but they have 

 increased more rapidly during the last few years. The rental of two farms at Rock 

 Savage, near to the Weston works, has increased from 1013?. in 1863 to 1503^. in 



1876 and 1877. I regret that I cannot say the same for estates under my care at the 

 distance of 20 miles." (Page 11.) 



' I think, therefore, I may fairly assert that when the Report on Noxious Vapours, 

 1878, comes to be fairly examined and discussed, as most certainly it will be where 

 so extensive an industry is at stake, it will prove that, great as may be the nuisance 



