lation with its consequent ills of never-ceasing want and periodical famine were stereotyped in those districts, and even in the few instances which remain of the representatives of the original lessees still continuing in possession, the condition is no better. It is shown that as occasion arose for each owner to make provision for his family, the same course was adopted, till the successive increase of each generation reduced the holdings to a size utterly inadequate to the support of those depending on them for even a bare subsistence1." The author inclines to the opinion that a sweeping measure of land purchase would be, at any rate in its ultimate result, an evil; and is of opinion that the true solution of the difficulty lies rather in statutory terms such as those created under the Act of 1881. They constitute a severe inroad on the rights of the landlord, but they do not forcibly banish him from the land, nor do they compel him (as a compulsory land purchase system would do) either to retain his house and grounds while shorn of his estate, or to sell his demesne at something not much above prairie value. Moreover, they constitute a real approximation of law and fact, the statutory term resembling very much the nature of the tenants' assumed rights in the soil. If the country were freed from the bondage of the gigantic organization of disaffection; if the Irish Land Acts of 1870, 1881 and 1887 were cleared of their technicalities and reenacted in the form of one shorter and simpler Act; and if the modes of procedure were simplified and cheapened, the author believes that the question of agricultural tenures would be on the high-road to settlement. While if public money were freely granted in aid of drainage and other improvements of the land, and (though with caution) in the creation of a limited, solvent and industrious class of peasant proprietors, and in aid of improved provisions for emigration (free from the faults which characterized these provisions in the Act of 1881, and which the provisions inserted in the Arrears Act 1 Report of Bessborough Commis- Bills now before Parliament are exsion, p. 62. amples of this kind of legislation, and should be widely beneficial. 2 The light railway and drainage did not satisfactorily mend1), the system would be greatly facilitated. It is impossible to say that the Act of 1881 has been tried under fair conditions, and the Act of 1887 is yet new. This latter Act was introduced to the House of Lords by the Earl of Cadogan, who touched on the report presented by the Commission on the Act of 1881, and stated that the Government was averse to again disturb more than was necessary the law of Irish land tenure. The provisions of the Act extended to leaseholders the advantages from which they were excluded under the Act of 1881. All such leaseholders-some 150,000—were enabled, if they desired, to apply to the Court and to ask for a judicial revision of rent; that is, they were placed in the same position as the tenants of 'present tenancies' under the Act of 18815. A difference was also made in the position of middlemen, who were enabled, if the Court reduced the rents paid by their tenants, under certain circumstances to give up their leases. By the Act of 1881' a middleman who was not in occupation, and hence could not claim the protection of the Act, was frequently, while liable for his own rent, injured by his tenants having fair rents fixed as against him. This state of affairs was also prejudicial to the sub-tenants, since if the middleman made default and the head landlord proceeded by ejectment, the tenants were only able to save themselves from eviction by paying the head rent in full, and though they could then proceed against the middleman, this was not a privilege of much value3. In order to stop the evictions which had become so pain 1 The Act of 1881 (sec. 32) enabled the Land Commission to enter into agreements with persons representing a State, Colony or public body, but the applications which were received did not fulfil these conditions. The Arrears Act 1882 empowered Boards of Guardians to raise money for helping emigration, and sanctioned grants to them for this purpose. See Field, pp. 353, 354. 250 & 51 Vict. c. 33. 3 March 31st, 1887, see Hansard, 3rd series, Vol. 313, pp. 1–27. 4 Lord Cowper's Commission, appointed 29th Sept. 1886. 5 50 & 51 Vict. c. 33, sec. 1. 8 Key to the Land Act, 1887, T. M. Healy, pp. 57, 60. 9 Whether the provisions introduced were likely to have this effect is rather doubtful, but that this was the belief fully prevalent, the Act of 1887 contained a provision which will be better understood if the state of the then law of ejectment is briefly considered. The tenant under a lease, or holding a yearly tenancy, was liable to eviction when one year's rent was in arrear. The fact that a judgment or decree in ejectment had been obtained did not however get rid of the tenant's claim to his holding until such judgment or decree was actually executed; until then, and also for six months after such execution, the tenant was able to redeem his holding if he paid the landlord's costs and the rent due'. It was therefore necessary, in order that the six months during which the tenant had an equity of redemption might begin to run, for the landlord to proceed to actual eviction, even if the tenant was afterwards to be re-admitted as a care-taker. The provisions of the Act of 18872 made it sufficient for the landlord to serve notice of the judgment, and ipso facto, on receipt of the notice, the tenant became a mere care-taker without having been evicted, and the six months' period of redemption began to run. Certain equitable provisions were also inserted, enabling the County Court to give time to the tenants to help them to meet their liabilities. The Act of 1887 is but an extension of the Act of 1881, and there appears no doubt that the admission of leaseholders to the benefit of its provisions is a step in the right direction. Certain temporary changes in the judicial rents were also provided for. One of the recommendations of Earl Cowper's commission had been that a shorter period than fifteen years should be fixed for the revision of the judicial rents. There were many obvious disadvantages in so soon unhinging again the settlements of judicial rents which had been effected under the Act of 1881, at the same time the unforeseen and calamitous agricultural depression of 1885 and the following years, which caused even the judicial rents to be and intention of the Government was stated by the Earl of Cadogan, who when introducing the Bill said, "I do not think I am overstating the case when I say that the effect of the pro posed provision will be to reduce the impossible to the tenants, rendered some action imperative. The Act of 1887 dealt with the difficulty by providing for a temporary re-adjustment of the judicial rents. The Land Commission was directed to determine the necessary change for the current year, and to take similar steps in 1888 and 18891. It seems probable that if an amount of social order can be introduced into Ireland sufficient to give the Act a fair trial, that it should ultimately be successful. All remedial measures which are only adopted in a crisis of social disunion are likely to be at first only slightly successful; but it is probable that if a quieter future is in store for Ireland, the tenants will realise that they possess a security in their holdings which is quite unexampled, and that the troubled sea of Irish passions should gradually calm. Works of improvement, the increased development of the soil, and the help of State-aided emigration may all have to be called into play before the quiet level is reached, but it would seem that the basis of tenure has been satisfactorily dealt with. Surely it is no baseless hope that on the horizon is seen the dawning flush of a day of peace for Ireland; that the future holds years of happiness and prosperity when that lovely land, shaking off like a dark cloud the past of misery, bloodshed and despair, may take that place in the roll of countries which the talent, the genius, the wit and the learning of her sons so well entitle her to. 150 & 51 Vict. c. 33, sec. 30. The power of varying the judicial rent was only given for these three years, at the end of which time the tenants will be liable to the original judicial rent for the remainder of the statutory term. |