A REASONABLE PRICE FOR STONEHENGE.
WE are clearly of opinion that the nation should buy Stonehenge—though not at the price said to be put on it by Sir Edmund Antrobus. That price (L125,000 for the thirteen hundred acres which surround and include the stones), is so extravagant that if Sir Edmund Antrobus is really anxious to sell to the Government or to some public body, be will be well advised to withdraw from it. It is too large to make even the basis of negotiations. If. however, he will only take up a more reasonable attitude, the transaction ought not to prove difficult to carry through, for there are circumstances connected with Stonehenge which make its acquisition by the nation comparatively easy. Chief of these is the fact that it stands on a piece of open sheep-down which abuts on,or, rather, is half surrounded by, public property. The ager publicus which the Government have acquired on Salisbury Plain, vast as it is, would be all the better for a little enlargement and rounding off in the direction of Stonehenge, and another
thousand acres of down would be an appreciable addition to the manceuvre area. A moment's reflection will show how greatly this fact facilitates a scheme of purchase. One of the great obstacles to a purchase involving a large acreage is the difficulty of dealing with the land, and seeing to its proper care. A public body like the Treasury or the Local Government Board has no machinery for looking after an estate. But here the land need be no trouble or burden for it could be at once handed over to the military authorities, put under their charge just as is the adjoining land, and so a good use made of it. The War Office would, indeed, prove excellent guardians, for the last thing a soldier is allowed to do is to deface Government property.
If it is easy to show that the purchase of Stonehenge and thirteen hundred acres of downland could be made to work in very conveniently with the present manoeuvre area, it is still easier to establit i the fact that Stonehenge is worth buying by the nation. A monument of such astonishing interest ought to be placed in public hands, and not left to the risks of private guardianship. Stonehenge, too, is not merely interesting ; it is beautiful. Any one who sees the huge, gaunt grey stones huddled together in their mysterious and yet orderly disorder on the green undulation of the downs, with a red and orange sunset glowing behind them, will realise that the so-called Druidical temple is far more than a mere curiosity It is not only part-and-parcel of the past of these islands, but adds immensely to the charm of the landscape. Besides, if the nation acquires the property for itself, we shall be able to learn something as to its origin. We do not doubt that if General Pitt-Rivers were allowed to conduct those patient and scholarly researches which he has exercised on many of the Wiltshire tumuli, he would be able to solve in part, if not altogether, the mystery of Stonehenge. He would use his trained diggers to test a section of the shallow ditch which sur- rounds Stonehenge. They would take off layer after layer of earth, and according to the nature of the objects found, the stones could be shown to be pre-Roman or post-Roman in date. If Roman pottery were found, Stonehenge could not be older than the conquest of CTsar. For beauty and interest, and for its absolutely special and original charac- ter—there is nothing in the world quite like Stonehenge— Stonehenge, then, is quite a suitable purchase for the nation. This brings us to the question of price. To prove that the purchase may be easy and suitable is not to prove that Stonehenge ought to be bought at any price that is asked for it. Our contentions go no further than sup- porting a proposition to buy it at a reasonable price. How is that reasonable price to be determined ? That is really the question. We will say at once that it must not be by merely fixing a reasonable price for the land and expecting Stone- henge to be thrown in. The proper price of Stonehenge must be ascertained like that of anything else, by trying to make out what any one would be likely to give for it. Before we begin an attempt to estimate this we desire to say in the strongest possible way that we have no sort of sympathy with those who declare that a landlord has no right to sell an ancient monu- ment of which he happens to be the owner. We hold most strongly, on the contrary, that the public have no right to limit a landlord's power of selling his property or of dealing with it according as the law allows him. He must not be forcibly deprived of the rights of property because he happens to own an ancient monument. Once recognise any other principle and landlords will be anxious to clear their land of antiquities which act like a sort of mortruain. We do not, for instance, think it would be in the least fair to say to Sir Edmund Antrobns, "we will not buy from you because public opinion will never allow you to injure Stonehenge, or to part with it to anybody who would." The owners of ancient monuments ought to be treated with the strictest fairness. But, though folly recog- nising that Stonehenge is the property of Sir Edmund Antrobus and that he has a legal right to sell what is his own, we would warn the public against allowing such considerations to fill them with an unreasoning panic, or thinking that the owner will do something dreadful with the stones, unless he is paid a great sum to part with them. In attempting to estimate a fair price for Stonehenge let us consider for a moment what purposes Stonehenge could be put to by private individuals, and what sort of sums they would be likely to give. Let us take, first, the suggestion that if the nation does not buy, Sir Edmund Antrobus will sell to an American company, who will " cart the stones away" and set them up at Chicago. We have often heard of Americans who are ready and anxious to undertake such transactions, but we must confess to having noticed that they generally "fail to mate- rialise," and we do not, therefore, attach much importance to the notion. Let us, however, for the purpose of argument assume that there is an American in the background willing to buy Stonehenge and take it away with him. How much would be be likely to give for the Stones ? Presumably he would want them for a profit, that is, to show them in America ? But it would coat him, we should think, some- thing like £100,000 to get them to America, for he would have to rebuild most of the bridges between Amesbury and the sea in order to get his lorries, loaded with the stones, safely over them. But possibly the Wilts and Dorset, or Hants, County Councils might not see their way to letting this be done. In that case we are afraid our hypothetical American would say that the bargain was "off." In any case, the cost of transport would be so large that there would be very little money left to give the landlord. We do not think, then, that Americans anxious to remove the stones are really likely to raise the price. A more serious suggestion is that if the nation does not buy, the stones will be sold or let to some great advertisement contractor, and that instead of the Pointer Stone, or the Altar Stone we shall hear of the " Pears' Soap Stone," or " the Monkey Brand Stone," or the "Little Liver and Beecham Trilithons." Of course, 'this is just possible, but here again we cannot confess to any very serious sense of alarm. We do not believe that any of the great and respectable firms named would be eager to secure "spaces,"—partly because their directors would be revolted by the idea, and still more because they would dread the con- sequent boycott of their goods. We do not imagine that Englishmen would be very anxious to encourage the destroyers of Stonehenge. This fact is now so fully realised by the great advertisers—thanks in no small measure to the exertions of Mr. Richardson Evans—that we doubt any con- tractor offering more than £10,000, if that, for Stonehenge. Next we must consider the showman purchaser. Why should not a capitalist buy Stonehenge, build a wall round it, and charge sixpence a head admission ? No doubt this is conceivable, but it would not be a very paying speculation. Not more than an average of fifty persons a day, taking the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, would visit the Stones, we should imagine. This, at sixpence per head, with the expenses of the man at the gate, &c., would not mean at most more than a profit of £250 a year, diminished by the interest on the cost of the palisade or wall. But even if the charge were a shilling, and £500 a year could be got out of Stonehenge, we do not think that a capitalist showman would care to give more than twenty years' purchase, if as mnch,—or say £10,000. The only other dangerous purchaser we can think of is the private individual who would want to buy Stone- henge and shut it rip. If he did not want, to shut it up, his ownership would be as harmless as, we gladly admit, the ownership of the Antrobus family has hitherto been. But if he did want to shut it up, and, say, to build a house close to it, he would find many difficulties, and would not be likely to give a very huge price. In the first place, it is by no means certain, and this refers also, of course, to the showman. purchaser, that any purchaser could shut it up. There must be something very like an immemorial right of resort by the public to Stonehenge, and so a right-of-way to and back from and between the stones. It is, indeed, by no means impossible that counsel might be able to prove that before legal memory—to wit, ever since the days of the Druids—the public have been accustomed to resort to Stonehenge on the night of the summer solstice for the purpose of seeing the sun rise over the Pointer Stone. But people do not care to buy a great law-suit and an immeasurable quantity of un- popularity at a very large price. Therefore, we do not sup- pose that the man who wants to keep Stonehenge strictly to himself will be likely to give £125,000 for it.
We do not think that we have exaggerated the facts, which go to show that Stonehenge is not a very valuable property from the point of view of the auction-room. You could not remove it. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to shut it up. It would not pay largely as a hoarding. It would not be worth any very great sum as a public show. As a building site it is not in the least eligible. Taking all these circumstances into consideration what would be the sort of price that should be offered by the nation for Stonehenge now that they are made aware that Sir Edmund Antrobus is a willing seller. In our opinion the Government should begin with taking the thirteen hundred acres, and putting them at £10 or £12 an acre, or whatever is the average price they have been paying on Salisbury Plain. Say that this price was £12 an acre. In that case the mere land would be worth some £15,600. Next, the value of Stonehenge itself must be calculated. As we have said above, it seems probable that the very most any person could make out of it who wanted to buy for purposes of gain would be £500 a year. Let us assume that it might be worth this and capitalise it at the generous figure of £10,000. Then the price of Stonehenge and of the thirteen hundred acres would work out at about £25,000. . If Sir Edmund Antrobus would take such a sum as• that we think that the Government might very reasonably give it. If not, and if he stands out for £125,000, then we should fear there can be no question of purchase, and that the owner must be left to try and get his price elsewhere. We do not think he will succeed. In all probability the auction price of Stonehenge is very much lower than the price we have suggested as a reasonable one. Remember that private purchasers are, as a rule, by no means anxious to buy such white elephants as ancient monuments often turn out to be.
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