The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-01-31
Guernsey and reland--Freeholds ana TeRan
Life.

Guernsey and Neutrality-suspicious. ana Tenant
Life.
BELFAST, Dec. 30, 1S79-To the editor Of
the London TimeS-SIR: Considerations arts
ing from recent visit to the British Channel
Island induce me to offer some remarks on the
subject of the chronic misery Of Ireland. AS
nature has made Guernsey miniature Of that
country, the contrast which socially they pies.
ent is heightened by this resemblance, To
both the Green Isle Is an equally appropriate
term. The cliffs of Jerbourg Icart and Pen-
mont repeat on smaller scale the features Of
Moher, Kikee and Sieve League The fern
and moss which grow in either isle with like
luxuriance attest an equally humid climate,
and record OF Guernsey weather reads like a
record of Irish weather at corresponding sea
sons. In BOTH bright blue sky, even in mid
summer, is a rare sight, and, while in winter
rain is frequent, frost and snow are only oc-
casional visitors. But, If strikingly alike In
natural features from a social point of view
Guernsey and Ireland are utterly dlssimllar.
Here is wealth, there Is poverty; here is ener-
gy, there is apathy. The beggar or the beg,
CARS livery is alike unknown in Guernsey,
while IN Ireland ragged-clad thousands Of the
population owe to the poor-rate or to the large.
hearted charity of their neghbOrs the means
of bare subsistence. In Guernsey the agricu-
tural labOrer has permanent employment at
the rate of from los to lSs per week. while the
farm.laborer in the south of Ireland often
works from morn till night at a weekly wage
of IS or at most IS. In Guernsey teeming hu
man life is seen, IN combination with vivid
indications of comfort and prosperity, while
in Ireland, amid comparatively scanly
population, is no less striklngly seen the in
disputable evidence Of want and of hard strug
gle to gain the bare necessares of existence.
pynrpnnn1 atipn IL the n
Irish misery is a fact unequvocally proved by
a comparison of the last census returns of
GUERNSEY with those of Ireland. With only
10000 acres under cultivation, Guernsey sup
ports in comfort q population Of upwards of
10000; while Ireland, with cultivable area
of 15,500,000 acres, has a poverty-strcken
population somewhat under 100000 Were
Ireland as densely peoped as Guernsey ii would
support population Of 4j,00O000. In these
circumstances it is reasonable to believe that
widely differing conditions of land tenure may
underlie the striking social dissmilarity of
these two islands, and, as one feature of this
system of land tenure seems to me capable of
adoption in Ireland, it may be well to refer
more particularly to this matter.
In contradlstinctlon to English law, Guern-
sey law eminently favors the diffusion Of prop
erty in land among the working class of the
community by cOnferrlng on the buyer of IA
bit of land the full rights of proprietor on
the payment of one fourth of the purchase
money. the remainder of the sum being dis
charged through fixed annual payments termed
rentes Should these rentes not be punctually
paid, the seller resumes the land and retains
the money paid. These rentes are registered,
and when not redeemed constitute, on resale,
a first charge on the land. Under this system
a thrifty mechanic can readily become the
owner of bit of land, and the redemption of
the annual rentes is an object that stimulates
his industry. Owing to the law of inheritance,
through which land is divided in certain pro
portions amid a family on the fathers death,
land is ever in the market, and that in quaint
ties suited to small means.
Under this system of land-tenure almost
every family in the little Island of Guernsey
is freebooter, and pays no rent ts landlords
The earnings of The people are not draIned
away and capital accumulates-