The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-09-21
Parnell and His Land Bill

LONDON, September 20.-In the House
of Commons, Parnell, in moving to the
second reading OF his land bill, said the
recent elections conveyed mandate to
the House of Commons that it should
show itself willing and able to provide
for the wants of Ireland equally as If
there were an Irish Parliament
(Cheers.) 1t was useless to talk about
the lateness or the session. The House
was only six weeks old, the majority
of the new members were young, fresh
and not overworked, and they did not
require a holiday. a state of urgency
existed IN reference to The relations be-
tween landlords and tenants in Ireland.
| Parnell here explained the provisions of
the bill. The first clause, he said, was
the most important, because it dealt
with the most urgent subjects. 1t en-
acted that any statutory tenant, whose
rent was liked prior to the last day of
the year 1884, might apply for an abate-
meut In accordance with the provisions
o, the bill. The bill was to be a tempo
rary measure, with the exception of the
second clause. ltintended to provide for
what he hoped would be only tempo
| rary emergency, was intended to meet
the depresslons in prices. But he could
not tell now whether the depression was
likely to continue. The depression
commenced in 1885 and has continued
| undated ever since. Il only ask the
| House to take action with regard to the
| rents falling due next November, and
| that will be IN the next season Of Parlia-
ment. Until the house is able to take
action On the report OF the royal con-
mission, we will abstain entirely from
prejudiCine the government proposals;
but we do know that since the bulk OF
judicial rents have been fixed there has
been great depres ion in prices. The
potatoe blight spread to an alarming
extent. Therefore, it behooves the
House to apply temporary
remedy now and wait for the
royal commission report, or for
government to take. action thereon,
which will be impossible before No
Vember, 1887, suppOsing the House adj
journed until February. A similar de-
Land Act of 1881, and the Arrears Act of
1882. Therefore, unless the House &C
cedes to my proposal, tenants and land
lords will remain in statu quo for year.
Our opponents will probably urge that
il will be exceedingly difficult Tor the
land court to ascertain whether the ten
ants are really unable to pay rents, but
there was similar difficulty to over
come in connection with the Arrears
Act of 1872. The court satisfied itself
within i've months of the inability OF
200 900 tenants to pay their rates.
(Cheers.) Similar quickness and
expedition will follow my bill,
and the work will probably be finished
in three months. l propose, further,
that the tenant shall deposit half the
amount of this rent, leaving the courts
to determine how much of the remain
ing half the tenants shall pay, and how
much the landlords shall lose. Under
the arrears act the tenant deposited
only One-third of his rental the land
lord losing One-third and the State ad-
vancing the remaining third. The only
practical difference is that the State
shall not De loser. In regard to the
suspension of evictions my bill again
closely follows the lines of the ar ears
act, which act worked justly and
satisfactory for all parties. The
cost OF eyictions frequently exceeds
the amount of rent due. 1t is
necessary To suspend evic:ions to save
the tenants additional cost. (Cheers)
As regards the lease-holders clause, 1t
will probably be objected to on the
ground that it ought not TO have a
place in the temporary bill, but
The lease holders have been wait
ing long enough, too long, in
fact, and l would not. be
party to the horrible injustice
of perpetual exclusion from the benefits
of The act of 1882 (cDeers). ParnelI
quoted at length from statistics to prove
that the fall in prices a. produce were
not exaggerated. The aOeai er disputed
the accuracy of Sir Michael Hicks
Beach's eviction figures, and said the
quarter ending the present month !
would show higher average CT eVlc-
tions than any quarter since 1851. II
the government, armed with this bill,
should stay evictiOns in Kerry, 1t would
do more TO restore peace than all Gen
eral Buffers put together (cneers). He
claimed that bill was essentially moder-
ate and calculated to pull matters
smoothly through the winter.
Parnen concluded by earnestly en-
treating the House 70 allow the second !
record of the bill, which he said would |
benefit the landlords themselves. The |
working of the land act of 1881 showed !
there were almost as few just men |
among the landlords as has been found |
in SodOm and Gomorrah. Cheers and |
laughter. fit had not been for landlords !
you might possibly have conciliated the !
Irish people. You rule in their folly. !
Landlords, the men you placed there as |
your stewards, proved false to their trust |
and oppressed their tenants, who have |
the utmost confidence that as act of |
justice Parliament will not permit the
bill to be lost. Cheers ParnelI's speech
occupied one hour and twenty minutes
n delivery.