Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-07
CHARGES BAD FAITH
Irish Land Purchase Act
Scored by N. P.
LETTER TO SECRETARY
Mr.. Butcher Reiterates Points in His
Speech at Cork.
AN OBLIGATION OF HONOR
Duty Of the Government, He Insists,
to Continue to Advance
Purchase Money.
Special Cablerram to The Star.

Birrell says that Mr. Butcher complained
that the government was showing de-
SIRE 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 1t is part Of the bargain that If
stock is issued at discount in order to
raise money for Irish land purchase, the
resulting charges will fall on the guaran-
tee fund. which means upon the Irish
ratepayers, when the development fund
Is exhausted, and the most the govern
ment has done is out of consideration
for the ratepayers to declare that read
justment is inevitable and must be at
tempted.
Mr.. Birrell declares it is neither more
nor less than a calumny to say that the
government seeks to go back upon the
act of 1903. The only possible COM
plant that can be made against the
staff large enough to carry out transac-
tons at greater speed than is repre-
scented by $2J,O00.OOO worth OF land in each
year. This was the rate contemplated
by Mr.. Wyndham for the first three years,
and though he expressed the hope that the
pace might be quickened as time went
on. hopes are no part OF bargain"
compact" or treaty of peace He
shares Mr. Wyndham's hope, and has
arranged with the treasury for such an
increase Of staff as will enable the land
commission to proceed little faster. But.
he asks, what would have been the loss
on fotation If the staff had been large
enough to demand from the treasury dur
ing the last three years $500. 100000 to be
raised on the issue OF land stock. the
whole of which. after the exhaustion
Of the development grant, would have
fallen upon the ratepayer? 1t Is some
what lightly said that If the govern
ment cannot get the money by the issue
of the land stock. it must get it in
some other way. None of the schemes
proposed offer any certainty, or even
probability, of success, and 1t Is doubtful
whether they are consistent with the
The act of 1903 requires important amend
ments. and it is the intention of the
government during the autumn session
TO introduce a bill which will give parlia-
ment an opportunity Of considering these
amendments.
Has Nothing to Withdraw.
Mr.. Butcher. NJ. p. addressed the fol-
lowing reply to Mr.. Birrel:
'Mr. Dear Birrell. l have been away
from home, and only this morning has
your letter of October reached me. You
reprimand me sharply for a speech I
made on land purchase at the Cork
meeting October /, and some of the re-
marks I made on that occasion seem to
you to contain neither more nor less than
a calumny of the government. Will you
permit me to call attention 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
of imperial credit. l guarded myself
against using precisely that language,
and the only strict bargain is. as you
say in your letter. that which is contained
in the sections of the act itself, and so
drew a deduction that the government is
now guilty of what some would call a
breach Of faith. l do not know whether
it is technically breach of faith but of
this l am sure, that it is a reputation
of an honorable understanding and en-
gagement. To that view 1 adhere. That
certain amendments in the act are neces-
sary no one denies. For instance ac-
cording to the letter of the act, as you
yourself reminded me, the losses on fota-
ton fall on the ratepayers of Ireland. BY
common consent this must be altered
The prime minister himself has said that
| nobody contemplated that the losses
should fall on the rates The need of
readjustment is here admitted. 1t Is not
on this point that any issue is raised
-.
An Obligation Of Honor.
What l laid stress on was that there
there is an obligation of honor resting
on the state, as distinct from any strict
bargain which can be enforced in a
court of law. The act gave embodiment
to a great and far-reaching policy 1t
contained an implied promise that so long
as landlords and tenants agreed under
certain cardinal conditions as to the price
the state would advance the purchase
money. 1T was / observed a great
venture. but 1t was made for a great OBJ
ject. 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
it rational to ask us to hold these over
for ten Or fifteen years? If the state
did make a saving in this respect 1t would
lose ten times over in the unrest and
discomfort of Ireland Such was the gist
of the speech"
II see nothing to explain away or
party controversy. The case is too
grave for that. I will merely repeat
words which l used at Cork-that 1T
would be an act of political folly on the
part of the government to withdraw i'm
perial credit at this crisis and allow land
purchase to fail just because it has been
too successful The closing paragraph of
your letter leads me to hope that you are
as deeply convinced Of this fact as l am
Yours very truly.
IS. H. BUTCHER"
The twenty-third annual meeting of
the Irish landowners convention was
ClOnbrock presided in the absence of the
attendance.
Delay and Uncertainty.
Lord Clonbrock, in opening the proceed
ings. said that the first subject to which
he wished to allude was the great delay
and uncertainty in the administration of
the land act. both from financial difficult
ties and from delays in procedure. The
committee In its report had refrained
from expressing any definite opinion upon
those matters. but it was plain that de-
lays in procedure were most injurious,
not only to the position of the land
lords. but also to that of purchasing
tenants: and, further. delays were in
furious because of the state of uncertain
ty and unrest created in the country
For that reason he had read with in
terest the report of the great meeting
lately held i'm Cork. at which men of the
most opposite political opinions were
able to meet together in pursuance of an
object which they rightly held TO be con-
country. There was great work still be-
the cOr1n1ittoa and for the 81