4 JULY 1863, Page 2

A correspondent in the Times calls attention to the way

in which Crown leases are granted. The Commissioners, it ap- pears, grant leases without competition, and recently granted some land near Carlton Terrace, the best site in London, for 99 years at a value which, capitalized, is about 35,000/. an acre—a sum absurdly below the value. Messrs. Trollope and Sons, for example, have sites for four houses which will cost them 20,000/., and 325/. a year, while they ask for them 42,000/. and 600/. a year. Sir Merton Pete has two houses- building on the same site, and the Duke of Newcastle has obtained the third, all at the same low rates. Such land cannot be sold by auction, perhaps, as a music-hall for example might injure all around it; but Government might admit some kind of competition.