and Mr. Moses, the ground landlord, offered a renewal of the ground-rent for 99 years at the rate of £550 per annum. Considering that the old rent had only been £150, the club had now to face a considerable increase in its yearly expenses. Nothing daunted, the Committee accepted: but Mr. Moses came forward in 1865 with a new offer; viz., to sell the fee outright for a sum of £21,000. Eventually he accepted £18,150; and Mr. W. Nicholson, a member of the committee, in a very landable spirit advanced the money on a mortgage of the premises at the rate of £5 per cent., which he afterwards reduced to £4 per cent., and conceded to the club the right to pay him off by annual instalments.
At last the club could call the ground its own, and the strides it made in the next twenty years were really remarkable. By 1878 the whole amount had been paid off, and the finances of the club established on a firm footing, which it has since maintained. In 1866, when Mr. Nicholson bought up the freehold, the club numbered 980 members, and had an income slightly over £6,000; to-day, as I have already said, it has 3,500 members, with a total income of £30,000. It is no secret that the committee, if they desired, could double the membership in a month's time; for applications for election come from all parts of the globe. However, they have no desire to do so, for it is their aim that the club shall not exceed the limit which would affect the comfort and enjoyment of the present members; and a rule has been passed which admits only of 156 members being elected yearly, active cricketers preferred, and half of them being specially selected.
There is no need to say that the club is in a prosperous condition. If proof were wanted of it, I have only to refer to the handsome pavilion which was recently built at a cost of £20,000. The Hon. Sir
