Journal entry – John Grey – 8 Jan 1835

?Thursday 8th January



       Mr Swan came according to promise, is a respectable looking Man, & is I hear a good Farmer.  We discussed the conditions of management etc. Mr Pinter put the want of a Shed for Carts & implements, which I was forced to admit, but as the other Hartburn Farms are equally in want of such accommodation, I could not promise to undertake the cost of building them, but engaged to see, if in clearing the Plantations, I could give them some refuse Wood to erect temporary ones for themselves.  He finally signed an Agreement & gave me a Letter from Hoy, whose offer was the highest, declining the Farm on the Ground that he had in the meantime retaken his own.  I find that a great uncertainty prevails in this mode of letting by tender, as to getting the best proposer for a Tenant, or indeed any of them at all for they send offers on chance & employ the interval which in the case of the Hospital must necessarily elapse, in negotiation for other Farms.  And in the present instance, I discover that of the nine offers for the farm in question, the only parties not already supplied with Farms, were Swan & the present Tenant, whose conduct in first offering £160 by private treaty & then £200 by public Tender, satisfies me that he did not deserve a preference.  Swans Rent of £222 is £3 above my valuation - all the others are below it. 

       Harrison the Tenant of Sproats Farm came over to agree to my terms & signed an offer to take the Farm at £210 and to forfeit £50 if he should again refuse to sign a Lease.  There seems no alternative but to accept him as tenant, or to advertize the Farm again, which I could not recommend, as few people not located there would go to that inclement district.  The other person who offers is not a sufficient Tenant. Next came Mr Reed to whom I had dispatched a Messenger. His is the best offer for the Dilston New Town Farm, & also for the Off Farm, in connection with the Haugh Farm.  He has no chance for the Haugh Farm, being so far behind, but if I could have got him if he united his offers for the other two, it would have brought him to a good rent.  He however stated that he had offered double for the Off Farm than he now thought it worth, thinking that would be an inducement to let him the Haugh Farm at a less rent than might be offered by others. Finding himself outbid even by uniting these two together, he would only offer £30 for the Moor land in addition to his bode of £480 for the New Town Farm, & even then made so many objections to purchasing the Machine & other matters, that I suspected he wished to be off & found that he too is on treaty, & has nearly come to terms for his own Farm.    This places me rather in a dilemma - for I had afterwards, an interview with Thomas Benson, who is next in hand for the New Town Farm, but who, as it turns out has only been practising  a trick so frequently play’d off in such cases - for he never intended to take the Farm, but put in an offer that in case of its falling into his hands, he might transfer it to his brother, should he not be successful in getting the Haugh Farm again.

       His Brothers proposal is the highest by £1, only, for the Haugh Farm, but he declines taking the Moor land altogether, saying it will not pay the expense of occupying even without rent.   In this case I declined agreeing with him for the Haugh Farm, until I should ascertain whether Mr Atkinson who is only £1 below him for it would give also a fair Rent for the Moor, as my object is to make the most of the aggregate, rather than be bound to each offer distinctly.   I sent Mr Hunt to see Mr Atkinson who promised to come to me by times in the morning    I had a long conversation with a Mr Bell who wishes to treat for the Allerwash Lime etc, but who has many requirements as to building Kilns & houses.  There is no doubt that both will be required, if the Work should be carried on extensively but I told him we must first know what rent it was likely to produce, & then we should be prepared to talk about outlay.  He referred me to persons that I know, for character, & went to examine the Premises.  These matters occupied the whole day.