The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-01
Week-End NelUs ofDubHr,
IIBsHIHN M NIl laHlIk EaEIN INInmN mIEW WEElMW W
fBY TTMoTHY ,. o,CoNNOR.)

 letter to s. H. Butcher. M. P, In reply to a speech made by the latter at l Cork recently on the attitude of the government towards the question of land purchase. In the course of his letter, Mir Birrel says that MT. But cher complained that the government were showing a desire if not actually declaring an intention. to get out of and withdraw from some "bargain." or compact" or treaty of peace" which Is embodied in the Land Purchase Act of 1903. The only bargain he can recognize and the only bargain to which appeal can be made is the act itself. It is part of the bargain that If stock is issued at a discount in order to raise money for Irish land purchase. the resulting charges will means upon the Irish rate-payers. when the development fund is exhaust cd. and the most the government has done is out of consideration for the rate-payers to declare that a readjust- ment Is inevitable and must be at tempted. It iss neither more nor less than a cafuInny Ito say that the gov ernnaent seek to. go back upon the Act of 1903. The only possible com plaint that can be made against the treasury is that 1t has not sanctioned
 
 transactions at greater speed than Is represented by $25,00o.o00 worth of land iu each year. This was the rate contemplated by Mir. WYndhan for the first three years. and though he ex- pressed the hope that the pace might be quickened as time went on, hopes are no part of a bargain com pact" or treaty. of peace" He shares Mir. WyndhAm's hope and has arranged fxfIf fA Nroo ettgsN fnt a n lnnrRaga of staff as will enable the Land Com mission to proceed faster. But he asks. what, would have been the loss on .s Notation, if the staff has been large enough to demand from the ltreasurY during the last three years $2o0.o00, 900 ito be raised on the issue of land stociA the whole. Of which, after the exhaustion of the development grant. would have fallen upon the rate -payersa IL is somewhat lightly said that if the government cannot get the money by the issue of land stock. they must get 1t In some other way. None of the4 schemes proposed offer any certainty, or even probability, of success and it is doubtful whether they are consistent with the terms of purchase laid down in the act. The act of 1903 requires important amend ments. and 1t is the intention of the
  sion to introduce bill which will give Parliament, an opportunity of considering these amendments.
 Butcher Makes Reply.
 2 MT. Butcher, NJ. P. addressed the following reply to MT. Birrell:-My dear Blrrell--I have been away from home, and only this morning has your letter of October 9th reached me. You reprimand me sharply for speech 1aHa An land YIIrcbaea af fhe Cork meeting on october 1, and some of the remarks I made in that occasion seem to you to contain neither more nor less than a calumny of the govern ment. Will you permit me to call at- tention to what actually said? Some previous speakers had used the words bargain" contract" compact to describe the arrangement the state had made for carrying out land pur- chase on the present terms by means iof imperial credit. I guarded myself against using precisely that language. and the only strict bargain Is, as you say in your letter, that which is con tained in the sections of the act it, self. and so drew a deduction that the government is now guilty of what some would call a breach of faith. I do not know whether 1t is technically breach of faith. but of this I am sure. that 1t is repudiation of an honorable understanding and engage ment To that view I adhere. That certain amendments in the act are necessary no one denies. For instance, according to the letter of the act. as you yourself reminded me, the losses on Notation fall on the rate-payers of Ireland. By common consent this must be altered. The Prime Minister himself has said that nobody con templated that the losses should fall on the. rates" The need of readjust- ment Is here admitted; 1t is not on this point that any Issue is raised: 1t Is elsewhere that the difference arises. What I laid stress on was that there Is an obligation of honor resting on the state. as distinct from any strict bargain" which can be enforced in a nent to a great and far-reaching policy. It contained an implied promise that so long as landlords and tenants agreed under certain cardi- nal conditions as to the price, the 1 state would advance the purchase money. 'It wass" I observed. "a great l venture, but it was made for a great | object. The state undertook that | policy knowing what 1t was about, and every man at that time was convinced | that once undertaken the state meant | to carry 1t through" Turning to the position of affairs at present, I said, Delay now means disaster; to suspend | the course of land purchase now Is to wreck the policy. There are forty five millions worth of agreements | made for land purchase. Is 1t rational to ask us to hold these over for ten or fifteen years. If the state did make saving in this respect 1t would lose ten times over in the unrest and dis content of Ireland" Such was the gIst of the speech. I see nothing to explain away or withdraw. I have no desire to carry on a party controversy. The case is too grave for that I will merely repeat words which l used at Cork-that 'it would be an act of political folly on the part of the gov ernrnent to withdraw Imperial credit | at this crisis and allow land purchase to fail just because it has been too successful" The closing paragraph of vour letter leads me to hope that you are as deeply convinced of this fact as
 Yours very truly.
 $. H Butcher.
 The twenty third annual meeting of the Irish Land Owners Convention was held at 95 Dawson Street, Dublin. Lord Clonbrock presided in the absence of the Duke of Abercorn, and there was a large attendance.
 The Land Owners Convention.
 Lord Clonbrock. in opening the pro- ceedings, said that the first subject to which he wished to allude was the great delay and uncertainty in the ad- ministration of the Land Act, both from financial difnculties and from delays in procAdure The committee in their