, 1881-08-14
TIE FERRIS OF TIE IRISH LAND BILL
Tile Irish Llud bill l1nou which the British

The Irish Land bill, upon which the British
Parliament has labored for whole session
is HOW imperlled by tile inability Of tue twt
Houses b agree. There is Il solid majorit,
| i'll the Commons Of 40 for the bill, while
| there Is about the same majority in the Lords
TOR certain amendments which III the judg
ncnt Of the Commons are destructive Of the
objects Of the hill, and therefore inadnissi
bic. One of these a'nerdmt1lts will explain
| the animus of the whole.
| Under the Land bill of 1870 intended to
! protect the tenants, it was provided that
! nothing therein should prevent the tenants
by contract wafyins any Of the conditions OF
the law. Thcreupon all the benefits Of the
law were defeated by the landlords includ-
Ing in all the leases a contract waving all
that the law provided for the protection of
the tenants, and tho tenants we're cocrced
into signing sucl. .leascs.
The Lords have now attached to this bill 4
provision that in eases where the rental is
over Elo0 $500 the right of the parties to
make their own terms shall not be interfered
with. This is the repetition Of the clause
which destroyed all the efficacy Of the act Of
1870, except that it is limited to leases where
the rental exceeds el00, which would cover
most farms containing over fifty or sixty
acres. If this be adopted. then the landlords
have merely to consolidate the small farms;
they have only to lease together farms now
renting separately for ECO and :siO, or E7O
and III, or any number Of small tracts max
ing an aggregate of E100, and thus release
them all from the protective operations of the
act. Such an amendment would perpetuatc
the abuses Of the present condition OF things,
and add to tile barbarities Of tile rack-rent
system the expulsion Of one-l,alf the oc-
cupants of the land by the consolidation of
small farms into larger ones. This would
probably throw Il million or more Of people
now subsisting on small holdings from the
land to the roadside, and thence to the aims
house. unless they should perish FROM
or be hauled away by the authori-
ties and placed on the cmigrant ship.
Gladstone refuses to accept this tricky
and several others Of Il like |
treacherous and injurious character, and tho |
Two Houses are broughtto aieadlock, which !
can only be broken by the surrender OF the |
Lords or the abandonment Of the bill BY the |
Had the fclldal Lords rejected the bill out
right the Government might dissolve Par
Lament OIL the general issue Of the refusal
of tha Upper House to carry out the will Of
Inc codntry. But the Lords have tlextrol1sly
eVaded that issnc; they have passed the bill,
md only claimed few amendments, which,
however Inconsistent with the purpose of
he bill, arc within, in public estimation,
heir just and proper legal rights
Thu issue presented by il disagreement on /
! few amendments would be too llarrow on
vlllcli to arouse public indignation in Eli
'la1lti, aud the struggle Would probably drift
'lto other issues which have arisen during
he presen! session. For instance, tile retail
afory tariff iss1lc-wherebs: Il portion Of the
'ritis'l manufacturers and I'LL tic landlords
ave bcGume advocates Of prUtectiou-has
lrcatlE produced great excitement in certain |
lstrictS hitherto largely Liberal. The pres
ut Ministry las also abandoned Afglalt-
STAN, and ylclde.i the Transy:tal to the ;ucrs,
tier defeat, and on lll these questions may
ncounter dcfcctions which might ut il new |
lection reduce its majority in the Commons.
LII the case OF the Reform bill in 1S;;ss,
'hcn tho Lords rejected the hill, though it | :
al Il majority OF I5U iii the Commons, fur | !
Ter action was postponed until tho next :
'ssloi1, when Il new bill was introduced, <
lsset|, anu by I'LL Immense vote sent to the :,
urcs. That body again refusing to accept r
le reform, resort was had to cocrciyc meas i
res. Tile King authorized the Ministry to ),
c:1tc a sufficient number Of new life Peers 6
overcome the Tor, majority ANIL pass the =
IL il. the Lords, but the latter IIouscAlid =
1t wait for the execution Of this authority, h
It enough abscntcd themselves to allow tile \
eform bill to become 4 law. =
In this case Mr.. Gladstone call postpone n
" acton until the next session, wilcn lie +,
II propose Il liew bill and pass it, aud tIlel,, !,
needed, resort 10 coerciye measures
sllst the Lords. But the London times ei
Is tlltt there is lo necessity for this delay, !,
It that MI. GIldstoue call con.pcl the OD-.j ~
'sition to take actiol,. The statement Of ! :,
at paDer is rs follows: ~
lho Times this morning. in cltorialIy COM -
'ntin1 on the refusal Of the House Of Lords tn l
cede from Its amendments 70 the Land MiI / u
xnru3 the settte'nent OF tho questions 1T :s:.ig i;
likely 70 follow n formal conference of tim 4'
rty lenders. Notwithstanding the defiant etii- b
ae or Lord salisbury. The writer declares ".
II Inc Ministry. supported us it is b; n COM "
I'll majority III the House of Commons csf11;,;t III
expected to yield; TINT in tho event 1t Tic III
use being uuab!e to give elect to its rc,;c; -
',a aainistry would have to resign: Salisbury "
u!d be summoned to undertake the Govern | nj
mt; and. even II able 10 form a Ministry. he e
uid be compelled to dissolve Parliament IN I CO