Messrs. Peto & Betts are managing this estate on the same principles that
they have conducted the undertaking by which, in a very few years, they have
acquired a large fortune and an influential position. Not by avariciously
grasping, and meritlessly grinding all the subordinates whose services they
required; not by squeezing men like oranges, and throwing them away when
squeezed; but by choosing suitable assistants for every task they undertook,
and making those assistants, or advisers, feel that their interests were the
same, that they were prepared to pay liberally for services strenuously
rendered. By this system servants and sub-contractors worked for them with
all the zeal of friends, and by this system the tenantry of Middleton will
attain a degree of comfort and prosperity hitherto unknown, while the estate
they occupy will be largely increased in value.
It is most fortunate that, at a time when so much landed property is passing
into the hands of men of the class of which these gentlemen may be considered
the intellectual leaders, an example has been set, by them, of liberal and
judicious management.
For this reason we do not think these rough notes on Middleton will be
considered a useless digression.
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