§ Earl WINTERTONasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that on the Maresfield Estate, which being the property of an ex-enemy alien has been administered by the Government since the outbreak of war until recently, are two public-houses, the Chequers Inn and the Nutley Inn; that these houses were leased to a firm of brewers in Brighton from 1899 to 1919, and since that date have been held by the firm in question on a yearly tenancy; that the Maresfied Estate having been recently sold privately by the Public Trustee the houses in question were disposed of without giving the brewery firm a chance of bidding for them; and what the reason for this action was?
Mr. ALEXANDERThe answer to the first three parts of this question is in the affirmative. A report has been furnished by the Public Trustee that the property was sold as a whole by private treaty to an adjoining landowner for a satisfactory price. In these circumstances the two public-houses could not be offered for sale separately.