The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-01 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, March 31.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
TENANT-RIGHT (IRELAND) BILL,
Mr. S. CRAWFORD presented a great number of
petitions from various parts of Ireland in favour of tenant-
right in that country. He then moved the second reading
of the Bill, and said that in doing so he felt a deep and
weighty responsibility rested upon hint, for he was not
bringing forward a puppet of his own, nor standing there
as the organ of any sect or party, but as the messenger
of a nation. He asked their assent to the principle of
the Bill because it had received the sanction of the
nation. The number of petitions presented from various
parts of Ireland in favour of the measure justified him
in making that assertion. He was in the remarkable
position of not having a single petition presented against
the Bill.—(Hear, hear.) Such a circumstance was
nearly unparalleled on a question of such vital import-
ance to a country. The preamble of the Bill recited
that it was the practice in Ireland to let lands to
tenants without the necessary buildings, and that
in the event of their qaitting, they could not obtain any
allowance for the improvements they might have effected
on the land. This was proved to be the case by all the
evidence adduced to the House on the subject of tenant
right in Ireland. If a tenant made any improvements
in his land he had no alternative but to rely upon the
honour of the landlord for compensation; for there was
no law in Ireland to secure to him the value of the capi-
tal and labour he had expended. Now he proposed to
remedy this anomaly.—(Hear, hear.) Land was the
chief means of existence to the Irish population, and
it was necessary that some fair protection should be
given to the poor occupiers for the outlay of their
labour and capital. The principle he proposed with the
view of attaining that object he believed would be gene-
rally acceptable, for it was that improving tenants
should have a fair and full compensation awarded to
them, having regard to the custom of the particular dis-
trict in which the land was situated. In case of a
difference an arbitrator was to settle the terms be-
tween the landlord and tenant. The provisions of
the Bill were entirely consistent with the civil
law of the land. The Bill recognised putting the onus
upon the tenant of proving the custom which existed
and the value of the tenant's goodwill. He proposed to
do nothing more than assimilate the law of Ireland, in
regard to tenant right, to that of England. In some
counties in England the tenant was required to prove
the local usages and custcms, and the value under them.
He would fairly state to the House that the object of his
Bill was to give the tenant a legal property in the im-
provement which he effected upon his farm, and if the
Bill did not accomplish that he had no hesitation in
declaring that it would be worthless. The other day,
the Noble Lord the Secretary for Ireland, at his election
for Coleraine made a speech, in which he acknowledged
the justness of that principle, and he now called upon
the Noble Lord to support his own views, and
vote for the second reading of this Bill. The
Noble Lord distinctly stated that the object of the
present Government ought to be to hold out to the te-
nant farmers some inducement to improve the land; and
as that was the main purpose of the Bill he thought
the Noble Lord was bound to take it up. If, however,
he would consent to the second reading of the Bill, he
should be quite ready to postpone its future stages until
such time as Government should have decided whether
they would adopt it, or introdnee some measure of their
own, as they bad promised to do.—(Hear.) The tribu-
nal which the Bill would establish for the settlement of
disputes between landlord and tenant, when they could
not be adjusted by amicable arbitration, was of a simple
and inexpensive character. In cases where the compen-
sation claimed was under 1001., ho proposed that the dis-
pute should be referred to the revising barrister of the
county, and in all other cases the reference should
be to the judges of assize, whose deedsions should at
all times be final and conclusive.—(Bear, hear.) He
thought there could be no objection to that provision,
nor indeed could there be any objection urged against
the next clause, which made provision for the adjust-
ment of contracts entered into previous to the repeal of
the corn-lawn.—(Hear, hear.) The 13th and 14th
clauses did not originally form part of the Bill, but the
altered circumstances of Ireland had rendered their in-
troduction necessary. The first of these clauses would
prohibit evictions for a limited time of tenants who
were in arrear of rent, while the other
clause would make provision for the pre-
vention of that suffering which had recently
attended the eviction system, by securing the tenant
some relief or some alternative in the place of the
misery and starvation which otherwise wculd inevitably
overtake him.—(Hear, hear.) He, however, did not
urge these claims upon the attention of the House as a
matter of right due to the tenant, but as a law rendered
necessary by the dictates of humanity, and im-
peratively called for to avert that scourge of
extermination which was now raging amongst
that portion of the Irish tenantry who were the
least able to protect themselves from wrong or oppres-
sion.—(Hear, hear.) Let the House remember that a
whole nation was interested in the success of this mea-
sure, and in the name of justice and humanity, and as
they valued the prosperity of Ireland, he implored the
House to allow this dill to go to a second reading.—
(Hear, hear.) Tho landlord's right could never be
safe, so lung as those of the tenant were neglected
or despised by the law ; and, as a landlord
deeply interested in the maintenance of his own rights,
he wished the House to do tardy justice to the tenant
in passing this Bill.—(Hear, hear.) It was ridiculous to
tell him that this Bill would confiscate the property of
the landlord, because it could not possibly do any such
thing.—(Hear, hear.) It would, however, take care that
while the improvements in the land were secured to
the landlord, the tenant sbculd be secured his
share through the medium of a money value.
Apologising to the House for having trespassed so
long upon its time and attention, he begged leave to
move the second reading of the Bill.—(Elear, hear.)
Mr. NAPIER could assure the Hon. Member for
Rochdale, and the House, that there was no subject
more worthy of the consideration of Parliament than
this.—(Hear, hear.) 1..; was of the utmost importance
that the cultivators of the soil in Ireland should be en-
couraged to the fullest possible extent, bet at the same
time he hoped the question as it now stood would be
discussed clearly and dispassionately, and without any
reference to party feelings or party motives.—(Hear,
hear.) He allowed that the Hon. Member for Rochdale
was entitled to great credit for the manner in
which he had persevered with this Bill, and be could
assure him and the House that for years this
very subject of tenant right had commanded
his constant attention.—(Hear, hear.) Every spare mo-
ment he could find had been devoted to it, and nothing
gave him a greater pleasure, when he was called into
office, than the prospect which it opened up to him of
being one day able to give his labours a practical shape.
—(Hear, hear.) He had, therefore, no hesitation in
telling the House that he hoped at no distant period
to be able to lay upon the table of the House a Bill which
should satisfactorily reform the law of landlord and
tenant in Ireland, and secure to each party his just and
equitable rights.—(ltear, hear.) He had always been
an advocate for compensating the tenant for unexha,usted
improvements. Tho tenant had nothing hut his labour
,
and small capital to apply to the land
so he ought to reap,
his labour
na he was liaour unrealisedfbwhen leftanhdis as
sarhme sowed
was any portion of
en-
titled to demand some money co •hands
of at the
of his landlord.—(Hear, hear.) Nothing was more cal-
culated to improve the social condition of Ireland than
the settlement of this question, and he was rejoiced to be
able to tell the House that in his attempt to obtain a
solution of this momentous question he should be a
gated by two gentlemen who had the honour of serving '
-
on the Devon Commission.—(Hear, hear.) Nothing,
however, could produce more evil than raising hopes
which never could be realized; and he trusted, and he
therefore begged to impress upon the House, that what
the present Government intended to do in this matter
would be based upon the report of the Devon Commission.
The measure which he hoped to have the honour of in-
troducing would be made as simple as possible, or it
would be better to leave the matter alone, as it would
only serve to create unnecessary agitation if the measure
was of a complicated and cumbersome character, and
he requested that the House, in its legislation
upon this very difficult subject, would take
care to render its enactments as simple and as free from
complication and restriction as possible.—(Hear, hear.)
With regard to the Bill immediately under discussion,
the principle was no doubt good, indeed, no one
could dispute that ; but still its provisions were
not sufficient to amend, simplify, and consoli-
date the landlord and tenant code of Ireland.
The Bill in its provisions was not sufficiently
simple or general in its scope, and that was the great
objection which he entertained to its details.—(Hear,
hear.) Whenever these objects could be carried out by
agreement so much the better, for though legislation
could do much, it could not by itself make a good land-
lord.—(Hear, hear.) But in effecting this there wore
some difficulties, one of the principal of which was the
limitation of property for family purposes. In such
cases it was most important that they should be
regulated in such a beneficial mannner as not
to interfere with the cultivation of the soil.
It was more consistent, however, with the commercial
system of the country and the temper of the times to
act as far as possible on a system of contracts. One of
his principal objections to this Bill was that it was a
dealing with the existing state of things, for the purpose
of perpetuating by Act o'f Parliament the custom—after
a not
11 a legal one—which was not calculated to work
important improvement. If they could get a
any
system arranged by which the tenant would receive
a compensation for unexhausted improvements, it would
very much tend to increase the prosperity of Ireland.
The course to be taken was this, to secure to each tenant
such a period of enjoyment of the improved soil. so as
to enable him fairly to reap the fruits of every =prove-
meat which he might have made ; and if it were neces-
sary, from any reason, to interrupt the possession,
that, at the expiration of his
possession, calculations
should be made, and he should still be able to
reap the benefit of his improvements.—(Hear, hear.)
That in his opinion was the plain justice of the case—
(Hear)—a fair principle against which no righteous
tenant or landlord could consistently object.—(Hear,
hear.) But the present Bill did not go to effect this;
the propositions which it contained wore such as to
startle men from a right view of the case. It in-
terfered with existing contracts, and tht, in
his opinion, Parliament ought not to do. L was
not by the violation of the tights of property
that Ireland was to be benefited, nor
interfering
with the fixed principles of property, but by the en-
couragement of industry, by inviting the application of
capital, and by promoting the spread of agricultural
kasseeiedge.—(llear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman then
prnosetsil to analyse and animadvert cn certain st
*OA which had been put forth by the Tenant
Eight League, which he showed to be utterly
withoutioundation. He was perfectly willing to invite
full and fair discussion on this important subject, but he

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