The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-25
BALF0UR UNDER FIRE.
GLADSTONE AGAIN OPENS HIS
GUNS ON THE LAND BILL.

It Complicasss Without Solving the
Difhculty-The Ex-Premier also Op-
posed to Saddling the British Tax
payer With the Burden Proposed
by the Bill.
LONDON, April 24-Mr. Gladstone re-
sumed the debate on the land purchase bill
in the House of Commons this evening.
He said he was opposed to the bill under an
overwhelming conviction that it conpli-
Gated without undertaking to solve the
difficulty. He had been encouraged to hope
for solution by Lord Salisbury's declaring
that the measure would not impose a bur-
den upon the British taxpayer He was
disappointed, however, when Secretary
Balfour informed the house that the meas
ure pledged the country to the extent of
eSS,000,000. without mentioning the possi-
bility Of further amounts being asked.
Regarding Mr.. Parnell's plan id
was new in principle. Its general
purpose was clear, but he was not certain
that he comprehended the details [Con-
serva i've laughter.1 It was honorable
even chivalrous-in Mr.. Parnell, opposing
the government as he did, TO deem it proper
to propose an alternative. He strongly
sympathized with one object Of Parnell's
plan, whereby landlords would not be ex-
patriated, but would be retained. 1t would
be sorrowful conclusion of the life Of the
landlord class IL, when local government
was established in Ireland, they did not take
part in adjusting affairs.
DUBIOUS POINTS.
Secretary Balfour's bill presented a
number of dubious points which made ID
difficult to discern fully the character Of
the measure Some Of the proposals were
so obviously Objectionable as to Justify
their rejection. A bill of this kind ought
to be confined to landlords already in pos
session. 1t should not encourage landlords
to become buyers of land in order
to take advantage of the enormous
bonus offered. THearl HearIl The provision
respecting two years arrears also required
a justification which it would be difficult to
find GCheersl Another objection cutting
near the root of the bill, was the method for
ascertatning the net rent of land. 1t was so
bad that il would enable q landlord to
obtain compensation'upo large mass of
income thai he had never received. [Heart
Hearll There was to be no
charges for management, for rent, the ex-
penses Of eviction nor of bad debts with
the other charges necessarily falling upon
landlords The effect of this was that they
might be giving, instead of seventeen years
purchase, twenty or twenty-five years.
CONSTITUTIONAL OBJECTIONS.
Coming to what he called the constitu.
tional objections, any one of which formed
an absolute reason against the second read
ing of the measure, he urged it was
obvious that Ireland opposed the measure
in view OF the fact that fiye-sixths of the
Irish members deliberately and determnedly
oppose it, IcheersL as the government was
tc Ea Traf a,,I stoA sA H..
portant to consider what was the attitude Of
the persons about to be subjected to the
debt. III they decline TO recognize the
binding character of the obligation, protest.
ing that the country did not get value for it's
money, was 1t prudent to force the measure
upon the people9 Was it possible TO inn
agine the government imposing a similar
measure upon Scotland and in defiance OF
the protest OF sixty out of seventy Scotch
rnembersl [Cheersl He objected also to
the use of British credit. He did not enter
tain an extreme view about the use of Brit
ish credit, but he thought that the govern
nment was precluded from large applications
of that credit for the purchase OF land. The
last general election settled the question.
In conclusion he said: 81 feel it to be my
absolute duty to protest against principles
of so f1agrant a character and so tending to
embark the country in immense pecuniary
risks while making the land purchase, not
an aim In the settlement in the general
Irish problem, but a means to further
plunge US into the deepest political embar-
rassmentn
SoSCHEN REPLIES.
Mr.. Goschen said that Mr.. Gladstones
contention that the tenants would be de-
prived Of the benefits intended for them
destroyed Mr.. Morley's argument that nom
purchasing tenants lwould agltate to get
their rents lowered to the same scale as
purchasers rent. In regard to obtaining
the consent Of the irish members, it would
be seen, il the bill passed. with whom
the tenants we're more satisfied, the
unionists, who supported the bill.
OF the Parnellites, who opposed
it. lCheers.] The latter objected to the
Ashbourne act. but the tenants did not, and
the present bill amplified the Ashbourne.
act IL required an enormous effort of the
imagination to conceive Of an analogous
case in Scotland. 1t could only exist if
Mr.. Gladstone and other Scotch members
should stump Scotland. advising them not
to pay rents to Lord Rosebery and other
landlords. [Laughter.1 He appealed to
the House not to allow political opinions to
warp their judgment on the bill.
Messrs. RUSSELL Dillon and others also