The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-04
QUEER THINGS IN KERRY.
Lord Kenmare and the Land Question
Two strange Islands.

Even in Killarney you cannot get wholly
away from the land question, writes Sidney
Brooks in Hdrper's Weekly. The great
landed proprietor OF the nei GLIB orhood
is Lord Kenmare, who owns an estate of
some $50, 900 acres.
Negotiations have been going on between
himself and his tenants the tenants nego-
tiating through four priests-with a view
to the sale and purchase OF the estate under
the Wyndham act. Both sides are anxious
to make the deal. and the difference between
them, in point Of money, is very small.
But money is not the only thing that
counts in these matters. There are four or
Ave evicted tenants on the Kenmare estate,
and their position has to be settled before
a sale can take place. The case Of one of
them is worth looking into.
He rented a town farm at an annual rental
OF something less than 81 900 a year, fell be-
hind in his rent and was finally evicted. In
Kerry and probably throughout all Ireland
Alarm from which a tenant has been evicted
must be worked by the landlord or not at
all. No one else will look at it. and a man
who had the hardihood to take it would
be shot or boycotted within a week.
Lord Kenmare has offered to reinstate
this and the other evicted tenants on his
estate on receipt of one years rent in dis
charge Of all arrears. The Estates Com
missioners ave found themselves legally
unable to ratify the arrangement and the
transaction therefore still hangs fire.
Lord Kenmare is the head Of one of the
Oldest Catholic families in ireland. He is
also LORD Lieutenant of the county, and as
such has the privilege of advising the Lord
Cha ncellor in regard to appointments TO
the magisterial bench.
heard it said more than once in the
district that IL he would only nominate
so and so to the bench the sale would quickly
90 through. l also Dun il a matter OF
common gossip that the evicted tenant |
have alluded TO, a master" Of the first
water, intends when reinstated to sell his
farm at once. There is no doubt he will
net a handsome profit.
In the Kenmare River there are two
islands that must be unique in these lati-
tudes. One of them is owned by Lord
Dunraven and the other by a local justice
Of the peace. l have gone over both of
them in a crescendo OF wonderment, asking
myself repeatedly whether l was in Kerry
or Algeria.
For. thanks to the Gulf Stream, these
two islands, on which thirty or forty years
ago not a single tree was to be found, and
which were mainly bog and moor, have
been turned into s~emitropical paradises.
Tree ferns grow there in the open air, palms,
bamboo and eucalyptus flourish there as
though on their native soil, and many plants
and shrubs from Australia and New Zealand
do better. l am told, In these islands than
in their own homes.
To pass from the bleak mainland into this
growth of dollhouse vegetation Is to travel
1000 miles due south in ten or fifteen min
utes. Lord L~ansdowne, who ownsa an estate
nearby, has, lam told, made eve more Of it
than Lord Dunraven and his neighbor AVE
-. a.. 80 thasr fala nAa. hItf TINT IL anpnathfnn
/ find very difficult to believe. In any case
/ have seen enough to rob the talk OF grow
ing tobacco and planting tea in Kerry of
ali its seeming wildness.