The Irish standard., 1890-04-19

"
an insurance fund for his own bail
He will have to pay. for five years, a
sum which in the most favorable case
traced bv Mr.. Balfou, will be equal tc
an excess charge of Is per cent. on the
instalments really due and in the less
favorabls example actually amounted
to nearly SO per cent. Of the instalment
due! Under the Ashbonrne Act the
purchaser, If he failed, lost by his fail
ure his tenant right and the portion OF
the landlord right he had paid fora
sufficient loss. But now he will lose,
besides, a solid sum Of money which he
will be forced to pay out in the wears
when he will most want relief-the
first years of his occupancy. And it is
asserted by Mr.. Balfour to be a special
merit of this plan ol insurance that it
presses most heavily on the poorer dis
tricts, where the relief is most imme
dlately wanted
Thus in the case of a tenant whose
holding is worth seventeen years pur.
chase, the insurance on rent Of elOO
would amount to EGO; IN the case of a
tenant whose holding is worth only
fourteen years. purchase, the insurance
would amount to el20; and for the first
Eve years after the agreement both ten
ants would have to pay exactly the
same instalments
The second point Of divergence from
the Ashbourne Act involves the third.
In the case of tenants who have Dur-
chased under the Ashbourne Act. what
eyer reduction they were entitled to
they got it at once. and in full. If the
proposed bill becomes a law they will
not get the full measure of relief for
i've years to come. That is, during the
years when they ought to be getting rid
Of the oppressive liabilities that have
been the fruit of seasons Of distress.
they will, instead, be engaged IN piling
up insurance of their own solvency in
years when their property in the soil
will have been increased by over IL per
cent. This change would, we believe,
efectually stop all transactions under
the bill if it ever became law. We can
imagine the answer which tenant,
whose neighbor bought under the Ash
bourne Act, at fourteen years pur-
chase, and who received the benefits of
an immediate reduction Of 40 Per cent,
or whereabouts. would give to an inyi-
tation to purchase on the condition that
for FIVE years to come he would have to
put up with reduction of 20 per cent.
This is the third Improvement" IN the
Ashbourne Act ]
The fourth is, that the superinten
dence Of the Purchase transactions is
to be taken out of the hands of the pre-
sent independent Commissioners and
entrusted to a Land Department b0ssed
by Mr.. Wrench and that blooming fine
Tory Mr., Justice Munroe, who has
struggled so hard for the past couple
of years, as head Of the Landed Estate
Court, to bull the land market for the
benefit Of the landlords. and mainly
constituted of the gentlemen who in
habit the famous bureau hitherto known
as the Irish Board Of Works.
There is only one attitude to be as
sumed by the Irish members to such a
proposal. They are threatened by the
Torres with the hostility Of they Irish
farmers If they oppose the bill. Even if
there were anything in that threat the
measure should be opposed ia the in
terest OF the whole community. whose
credit it proposes to pledge for the res,
cue and re-enrichment of the bankrupt
landlords. But there is no conflict
between the farmers interest and the
general interest in this case. They are
one: The measure is one to plumber
the farmer and to make the community
60 security that when the plunderer
comes the swag will be forthcoming.
1t is a landlords bill; it is a foreigners
bill; it is designed to turn the whole
poison Of the gangrene Of landl0rdism
back upon the country, and to stop all
outlet. Better 9 future Of war and
struggle against the fell system than a
future with the milestone Of obligation
which the bill proposes to place upon
us around our necks. Ireland IS ready
to pay . fair price to the landlords but
she is not ready to pawn her future for
the purpose of enabling the land lords to
recover the arrears cot their rackrents,
to coniscate the rights, legal and moral,
OF the tenantrY and 70 close the door of
hope against the men who have fought
the battle. of their class against the
conspiracy of whose fell purposes and
interests the. Land Purchase Bill IS Mr.l
BaltoqrEis the most comp plete Tevelatieni
yet