The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-19 00:00:00

THE IRISH LAND QUESTION.

The Times "Commissioner" continues his investi-
gations touching the relations of landlord and tenant
in the neighbourhood of Tipperary. Ile finds no
diversity of opinion touching on important matter
—the condition of the agricultural labourer in this
district, as elsewhere in Ireland, has marvellously
improved of late years. Partly owing to the
increase of wealth, partly to the influence of
the poor law, but principally to the immense
emigration which has taken place since 1840,
the population around Tipperary is now 1n a state
of comparative affluence. The labourer's wages
paid in
utvalent
cashaverage
regularly
sevenfurloairly au thteoy r
o ,ngors aa
f%No.
es
in money and food, the rent of his dwelling being
about Li 10s., and he has in a great measure given
up the potato, and substituted for it a better diet.
Indeed, his condition in some places escites the
jealousy of the farmers. The " Commissioner " like-
wise draws the conclusion that the occupiers of the
soil axe by no means an unprosperous class. Rents
have increased since the clays of Arthur Young ;
bat the quantity of produce raised is one-half more
now, and the prides obtained are three times as great
as in that arve. Many of the farmers have good
balances at the binlis. The small holders are doing
ns well as the large. •
But neither farmers nor labourers are contentea,
and, the writer thinks, not without cause. The
tenants are nearly all Roman Catholics; the land-
lords nearly all Protestants. Most of the largest
proprietors seldom or never visit the neighbourhood.
Though there are some material exceptions, most of
the improvements on the farms are the work of the
occupiers, not of the owners. The tenantshave received
no compensation for their outlay in this direction; in
several cases, indeed, the rents have actually been raised.
Furthermore, very few of the tenancies are leasehold.
Most of them are terminable at six months' notice ;
and though no general system of oppression exists,
it is evident that the one class is at the mercy of the
other. Such a condition of things cannot be satis-
factory. There is yet another grievance. An
out-going tenant is accustomed to sell the
goodwill of his interest, and very large prices
are sometimes paid in this way. But such
payment confers no title to occupancy ; the tenancy
is still at will, and a farmer who may have bought a
goodwill at the price of £lO an acre may be turned
out without the slightest compensation.
" Fixity of tenure " is the general cry amongst
the farmer class of Tipperary. Their discontent,
which is not weakened by the conviction that some
change in their condition will shortly be made, takes
its worst form in the agrarian organisations which
are. so common in Ireland, and which meet with so
much sympathy. Such a combination now exists
ill Tipperary, and, though its members may be few,
it meets with much general sympathy. " Nor, though
its activity has not been great, though it has not left
the mark of its presence in outrages on an tex ensive
district, though its positive achievements may not
have been many, is the scope of its
influence
limited; its spirit is probably widely
diffused, and it
has had an effect, more or less to be traced, in con-
trolling the management of landed property."