New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-05-06
THE WOES OF IRISH FARMERS
MIR. BALFOURS BII4L-THE LAND COURTS
A RUSH OF ESIIGRANTS.

A RUSH OF EsIIGRANTS.
FROM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT oF THE TRIBUNE
.,o,,., .or,.. :, ..n DrbIIs April serious III;
trouble too, has arisen for the Irish farmers.
1t comes in the form Of bill by Mr.. Balfour, which
processes to expedite business In the Land Courts.
Among Its provisions to extend the existence Oh
tho present Land Commission for another term OF seven
years. and another which proposes to deprive the tenant
Of the option of seeking to have judicial rent fixed
These things trivial, but they are not trivial
II the bill should pass 1t viii DO victory for the land
lord and defeat for the tenant One Of the few pro-
visions Of Mr. Gladstones bill which wero real good
was that which enabled the tenant to file what Is called
an originating notice for readIustmen Of rent with
without the consent of tho landlord In either the
County Court or before the Land Commission. The
landlord was accustomed to shun an informal Inquiry
let alone judicial one, into the management OF his
estate or Of any particular holding upon his estate
Tho tenant always courted inquiry and Jumped for
Joy when he was empowered to demand one before the
court that no preferred. The reason for this was
evident; It because the vast majority Of Irish
estates would look country @where tho
Indian or the foot Of tho white man
has not trod' II tho tenants improvements were left
out This, at all events, IS how John Bright described
It. So that 1T is another attempt Of Mr.. Balfour to
egsate In the interest Of the classes against the
masses
The Land Commission Courts were unlike other
courts that the tenants were glad to 60 there The
general public felt that they had right to DO present
and to look The approaches to these buildings
not overawed by soldiers with drawn sabres.
Policemen wero few and far between. And the Com
mssoncrs themselves with the exception Of the chair
man, who was a lawyer and frequently wore bar
rsters gown, looked like ordinary mortals. There
was braylng Of trumpets, shouderng OF rifles or
changing of swords. You might occasionally hear ap
plause, too, when young lawyer sat down after
eloquently describing the tyranny to which his client
had been subjected. In a word an Irish Land Court
closely resembles any ordinary American Court,
criminal civil, everything IS done In mattcroffact
a way You have no idea Of the tremendous infu-
this had upon the farmers They became inspired
with confidence, and entered Il with feelings far differ
ent from those with which they entered any other court
in the land Although knowing that its composition
was by in their favor the surroundings
democratic and they felt that they stood on an equal
footing with the landlord Then anybody could under
stand the procedure, although nobody probably with
the exception OF Mr.. Gladstone could understand the
Land Act ITSELF
Tho administration Of the did not, unfortu-
naely" broaden down from precedent 10 precedent
tho contrary 1t contracted Precedent seemed to have
been fatal to II from the very first. There pre-
cedent In the beginning, OF course ono had to DO
made. This was done In the Of Adams versus
Dunseath which has since become famous or, II you
prefer the tenants view, Infamous 1t arose upon
construction of the eighth subsection think was
OF the third section Of the Land act giving 1t the
correct official title, tho Land Law reland bill The
substance of this that rent shall be made pay
able upon any improvements effected by the tenant
his predecessors in title, for which either tho or
his predecessor shall not have received compensation
Nothing could be palmer than this A code OF laws
based upon such simplicity of language, you would
think would give lawyers little TO do That bill was
thrcshed out In committee as
since before was. All the sub-sectlons
in that section thrcshed out. 1t was only
In another place and by ono
that the sweeping nature Of the proposition embodied
In the subsection seemed to be realized. The man
was Lord Liford and the other place the House
OF Lords. "Why,' no exclaimed, II you approve Of
this the rents all over Ireland will be reduced 10 tho
prairie value Of the land That is the meaning Of the
subsection" Certainly 1t the meaning of 1T yet
the House of Lords, with It's Tory and landlord major
iy, allowed It to stand The Adams Dunseath case
was one Of the first tried under the act. The rent
was 1900 1900, forget the exact amount and the
sub commissioners In fixing the judicial reduced
| this by moro than 1900. ALI the improvements had
been made by the tenant The commissioners simply
administered the Act of Parliament as any fairmnded
| Judge would have administered 1t, yet IN a far
| leniont way than its avowed and most bitter enemy,
Lord Iiford had declared 1t would be Just to admin
lister it The landlord appealed and the hearings and
rehearings became so protracted that people grew
| weary. 1t looked like farce to have the leading
| lawyers here striving to get at what Parliament
meant" they declared; to translate the
| plain words Of the section though they
formed cryptogram in comparison with
which Ignatius Donnelys alleged cipher Is
an open book 1t was test case and tenants had
not yet filed their originating notices to any large
extent. Tho reduction granted by the sub-Comms-
sIoners had gladdened them and they were waiting
to see. Tho decision Of the APPELLATE Court came at
length. 1t against tho tenant. The rent
revised. In favor OF the landlord this time. and the
| reductions mado by tho SubCommissoners greatly
reduced Tho higher court held that Parliament
meant to say" that all rent should be made payable
on any improvements effected by the tenant his
predecessor in title for which either Of them had not
received cOmpensation-during the twenty years pre-
cedlng tho passage of the act. 1t not what Par
lament said but what 1t " meant to say" Thus
discovered precedent full fedged and ready to fly.
Tho law did not come in foreign garb" though you
SEQ 1t Just tho as II it had because 1t was
soon stripped and English clothing OF approved style
put on. While the change was being made tho
youngster caught cold which has since developed
into what looks dangerously like consumption. Any
how the child has been the same" since. though
he certain to lnger for many years YET II only 10
give trouble TO the doctors.
To understand how damaging blow this decision
OF the Court of Appeals you should know that
all the chief improvements by the Irish farmers were
made antecedent to the date fixed by that decision
beyond which the act should not be deemed retro
spective. The blow well aimed There havo
been several lesser blows since. Since tho Tories
have como into power they havo changed the per-
sonnet of the whenever they got the chance to
make way for antl-tenantright men. And now comes
Mr. Bafour with his proposition to deprive the tenant
of the option of applying for reduction OF rent 10
| either the County Court or the Law Commission
o. has ep
At the which has set in, this year VIII wit
ness an exodus to which OF the terrible famine
wears OF 1s46-474549 will be only an adequate COM
parison. In presence OF this draining away OF tho
best blood OF the country our people arc being in
suited almost daily by those who talk over tea or
writo to magazines deliver after dinner speeches.
tho burden Of which is that there are too many irish