The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-04-12 00:00:00

tom of VArtiattitut.

THE HUBH LAND BULL

On THURSDAY night Mr. GLADSTONE rose in the
30111 IONS and introduced the Bill for reforming the Laws
:elating to the occupation and ownership of lead in
Ireland. In a speech which the Pima numbers "among
lis greatest oratorical efforts," but which the Poll Mail
9axae more correctly describes as "by far the mint
.mportant and far-reaching at hie achievements as •
itatesman," the Premier proceeded to review what had
Jaen already don* in the :natter of Irish Lead Lawn
The Act of 1870 tacked on • valuable conelderation to
'very tenancy in Ireland, and under that Act tenant
ight became sensible and considerable. Upon this
minciple the various Commons that had been appointed
were almost all agreed. Tbe value of this as an element
if public peace was shown in the disturbances twelve
nonths ago, when Mayo and Galway were in great
langer, and Donegal—one of the wildest counties in
Ireland —was at peace, in Donegal tenant right prevailing
whilst in Mayo and Galway it did not exist. It p
.o the Government that it would be unfair to give
tenant right by legislative force to the tenant, without
giving public authority to the landlord to protect his
uterest. He therefore proposed the establishment of •
Jourt which should take cognizance of the questions of
lint, tenure, and assignment. The court is to be optional.
fie did not propose a dead uniformity in the legal condi.
Aims of the farms of Ireland :

There is no country in the world the face of which is so
awned with variety among agricultural countries as Ireland.
You have to begin with the usual varieties, and then yoga
save many varieties wit' are exclunively Irish. You hare
he grazing and the village farm, the large holding and the
anal!, the large proprietors and the small, the landlord absent
pad the landlord reeddent ; you have the Improvements made
snuethiles by the tenant and sometiries by the landlord,
or there are in Ireland what in Ireland are called in the
etrictent sense improving landlords (hear, hoes); you have the
.eaeeliolds, the annual tenancies, the caretakers of land, lands
m conacre and lands in ruudale ; you have the lands over-
rutted through the operation of the great land hunger; you
nave the lands under-rented through the traditions of many
:states, and in certain mem through tho desire, and perhaps
with the express purpose o( excluding tenant right and
iesignment you have the old-fashioned Irish Landlord and
the newelmhiened Irish, landlord, and though the old-
!anhioneel Iriiih landlord was not an impeccable being, yet
many tef hid sins towards his tenant were sins of omission
.oilier than of commission, and in some respects he would
our a not unfavourable comparison with the new-fashioned
landlord (hear, bear). Vou have land under middle men, and
rou have land without miedUe liken : you have lessees in
p:rpetuity, and, above ell, the prevalence of local customs,
which have taken deep root in tbe country, and which, in my
+pinion, we should incur a very heavy responsibility by
gratuitously endeavouring to wipe away from the face of the
ben.l. All thme are strong reasons for making it optional to
the tenant to consider whotlw ho shall go into court or
whether he shall not, hone 1 Ault not be thought disloyal
I e the cause of tho reform of the Land Laws in Ireland, but I
meet say :here is no country in the world which, when her
social relations come to admit of it, will derive more benefit
than lreland from perfect In...dome( contract in land (cheers).
We, therefore, propose that the entrance into the court
shall be an optional entrance. Every tenant now existing in
Ireland may cull in the Court. The brat purpose will be to
tix a judicial rent. That rent will be on the basis of a fair
rent When the (Lori has fixed the judicial rent that
judicial root will carry with it a statutory term of 15 years,
during which there can be no change. At the close of the
etatutory term of 15 yesrn application may be made for
renewal of the holding, and the application may be made
.ofiee epeehin until certain changes in the conditions of the
tenancy arise. 'll hen the lease is renewed, the conditions as
i. eviction will remaiu the inane; but alter the expiry of the
next term of 15 years the landlord may, with the consent of
the Court, and for certain strictly defined melons, resume
DIOS•NSIA00. In cases where what is celled the English gystem
prevails, +aid the estates base been maintained and improved
by the landlordn, we have thought it justice that they should
not be brought within • new and exceptional state of things
having no application to the relations between these landlords
and their tenants. We have left a large power of equity
between the landlords and their tenants The ordinary
tenant will, like the eonatit under the Court, have the right
of assignment and will save his tenant-right. The landlord
will, of course, have the right to refuse the purchaser to
whom the tenant wishes to ensign his right, but only on
reasonable grounds, and in defining theme reasonable grounds
we have endeavoured to follow as well as we could the cc
tice which now ',reran' in Ulster, and which has .
hardened into a sort of inflexible rule. When a tense
wishes to quit, his landlord will have the right of pre elm
Um, not at a rate fixed by hininelf. but he must buy in tl,
open market or get the AUDI fixed by the court and in CAM
where the holdings have been improved by outlays on ti.
part of the landlords the amount of such improvemenk siiik
be taken into account as • set-off against the- t.itant-nght,
provided they have never been retpunetritod by the rent
paid or otherwise. I need not Kay that the landlonls' claims
will be satisfied out of the parttime-money, according to the
universal practice IA ;relent'. The ordinary tenancy may be
bequeathed, but it must be bequeathed to en* person only.
Where the rent is rained, the first option that the tenant is to
have is that he may sell his tenant-right, and ask the land-
lord ten times the amount of the increase of the rent. The
second is that he may fall back on compensation for his term.
and for improvements, and the third is that he may go to the
court and demand the fixing of &judicial rent If he accept.
the rent, he obtains the security ol the term of 15 years. If
Iltr exercise.* his option in favour of taking cermetwationi for
disturbance, then the change comes into opeuttion, which we
propose to make by altering the peak of compensation foi
disturbance by raising the tate of all the larger holdings
Ily that proposed change we strike out all valnations for dis-
turbance. and primeee that the amount of compensation
shall be regulated solely by the amount of the rent. If th,
rent is under .C3O, the amount of compensation shall DOI
exceed 7 years' rent; if under .450, 5 years' rent; if undo
•100. 4 yearn' rent; and if over JACO, 3 years' rent. The
scale at present is that if the rent is over £lOO, only one
yearn' rent is to be given, and if under Slit T years rent
That is the condition in which we propose to leave those ol
the tenants in Ireland_yrtio do Do ria to invoke the pro-
tection sp. court We knee pro d that there shall te
nu power to flitrar.4 out Of the Act lii the case of small
holdings (hear, Irina): hut yet it does seem strange to impost
a I imitstiou of that kind as regards what may fairly be caller
lsreu holelieipt What we propose, therefore, in respect k
this matter is that there shall be a power to cents-at out ol
the Act where the valuation amounts to .Cl3O or upwards—
that to aay, speaking generally, that this power of con
tructing out of the Act shall only apply in the case of holding.
of a value of over £2llO a year. We have another clause rub
stituting arbitration for the court. The court will consist ex
demo members, one. of whom Int•lt be • Judge or •o ex
fudge of a Superior Court.

-
With respect to A.dvanoes of Public Monies, Mr.
Gladstone said: Our provisions in regard to the
tcquisition of land by tenants are of two kinds. 111 the
first pfiiee they are these—to assist tenants with money
for the purchase of their holdings, without any furthei
intervention by the commission. Where a tenant can be
fortified by the purchase of his bolding, we are disposed
to give him every aid we can—whether he purchase,
ab-olutely or purchases with the payment of • tine and
the retention of a fee-farm rent on the laced. But then
what is more important is this, 'lite commission is not
only to assist tenants in the purchase of their holdings,
hut It is itself to become, on reaeonsblo terms, the pry.
anger from willing landlordit of their estates, in (Ardor to
re-sell those estates (cheers): And perhaps on this point
I may say eiyllont further delay that • most important
and difficult question here arises. We rhall authotise the
comm6eion, if bits Bill be approved, to advance to
purcha.ing tenants three-fourths of ths prices. But here
arises the very important question whether they should be
„flowed to borrow the remaining one-fourth (hear)
Well, we came to the conclusion that urn the whole
to
tb,y ought to be allowed holism (war 'wipe they
purchaae, the tenant-right will in, in tits fee. Of
~.trae we are oW:fed . provide taat-she land subject In
d'r" "hall not I"' ul4 et or 114dirided. When it Mien
t., Le charged, it will e the abecdute propertY of.
ciec.
the bummer. But we mesa to guarantee lb* ale ix
' doge per.na (hear). Welll that is 4% brief the rude Pim
,f that wS pfeVwo for the acquisition of bad bi *
puhat.