The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-05-02

tne elulfe cost, when it Is q question
OF expenditure OH Irish national OBJ
Jccts The British treasury claimed.
when the overtaxaton of ireland was
demonstrated to the financial relations
commission, that their expenditure in
Ireland, pronounced wasteful and de.
molalized, should be taken as n set.
Oft. Mr. Wyndham announced that
savings made in Irish administration
during the last few years amounted
to Illo,00o, and that lie hoped to effect
very much larger savings; but no i'll
tcntion Of allocating these savings to
Irish purposes was intimated. The
British treasury must win, and will
win largely, over this business.
Now for the tenant purchasers posi-
tion. Hitherto, he had agreed to buy
for lump sum, Which he usually
reckoned ut SO many years purchase
OF his rent. lie could repay this by
paying an annuity Of 1 per cent on the
price for fOrty-two and One-half years.
or he might have this annuity reduced
by 10 or ~ per cent at the end of each
OF the first three decades, and then
continue paying 2A per cent on the
original loan until seventy-two years
had elapsed from the date Of his pur-
chase; or he might pay Off the whole
or any part Of the loan ut any time.
When lie bought he became full and
absolute owner Of his farm. He was
proprietor coelO usque ad inferos
Qrom the sky above to the center of
the earth).
That Is not to be SO under the land
bill No purchaser will become abso.
Lutte owner, nor is he to agree to buy
for any known sum. He must agree
to buy for an annuity which is not to
be less than 10 per cent or more than
40 per cent below his existing rent;
seven-eighths Of this annuity will be
termlnable In siXty-eight and one-half
years, and one-eighth is to remain a
perpetual charge on the land. Mines,
minerals, rights Of shooting, hunting
and fishing do not pass to the pur-
chaser, but are to remain the property
of the state, /. e., at present, the treas
ury. The purchaser will not become
the owner; he will be a state tenant,
with right to use the surface of the
land for farming purposes only, and
without power to explore or develop
It's mineral resources if they exist. If
tenant wants to know what price
he Is paying for this limited owner-
ship, he must divide the annuity he
has agreed OH with his landlord into
two parts and multiply one-eighth Of
the annuity by 1886 and seven-eighths
by 30.7. The selling landlord will get
in addition bonus Of from Is per cent
OIL the purchase money Of estates not
exceeding $4,000 capital value, to s
per cent OH estates where the total
price exceeds f4O,OOO. The purchasing
tenant cannot be said to pay this
bonus, except so far as he contributes
to it as taxpayer.
The entire bonus expected to be
given to the landlords during the next
fifteen years is estimated at about
twelve millions. There are some ex-
cellent and unobjectionable provisions
in the bill for expediting the investiga-
ton Of landlords titles and the dis.
tribution Of the purchase money. Red
tape and lawyers cobwebs are swept
away il the administrators act In the
spirit in which these clauses are con.
ceived.
Looking at the measure as whole, I
should say it is not fair as between
landlord and tenant. It gives the land
lord far more than the value Of his
estate, and does not give the tenant
the full ownership that he desires to
have, nor adequate consideration for
what he will have to pay. It 10 un.
fair between Great Britain and Ire.
land, for it puts an unnecessarily
heavy charge on the Irish taxpayer
for reform from which England will
derive not only large benefit, but q
profit.
- }r-?t ,s,vy