Results of the System in Ireland.

It has already been shown that the number of landowners in Ireland is proportion ably far less than in England. The difference is even more striking than that already pointed out if we compare the number of small proprietors in the rural districts of both countries.

The three agricultural counties, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire, with an area of 1,173,000 acres, may be fairly compared with the Irish counties Meath, Westmeath, and Cavan, with an area of 1,360,000 acres. In the English counties there are 6,412 owners of between 1 and page 88

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50 acres. In the Irish counties with a larger area there are only 612 such owners.

Or if we take the mountainous districts of Northumberland and Westmoreland, with an area of 1,736,000 acres, and compare them with Galway and Mayo, whose area is 2,760,000 acres, we find in the former 3,003 owners of small properties, in the latter only 225 such owner's. It appears then that as compared with England, Ireland has less than one-tenth the number of small owners.

The difference between the two countries is the more remarkable as, whatever may be the case in England, it is certain that in Ireland land has not acquired an artificial value. The price of land in Ireland is very much below that of England; it does not average more than twenty-two years' purchase of the annual rental, and has only reached even this point within the last few years. At this rate money may be invested in land in Ireland to pay about per cent.

The explanation of this great difference in the number of landowners in Ireland, is to be found in the early history of that country, in the fact that it never passed through the feudal system, that it was not thoroughly conquered by England until the feudal system had already disappeared from the latter. Under the feudal system, the occupiers of land in Ireland, who held under ancient customs which gave them an interest in page 89 the soil from which they could not be dispossessed,

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would most probably have obtained the same recognition and fixity of tenure as did the villeins or copyholders in England. The later English law treated them on the Conquest as mere tenants at will of those who acquired by grant the land of the dispossessed lords of the soil.

In later years the position was still further aggravated by the penal laws directed against the Roman Catholics which forbade their inheriting or acquiring land by purchase. When, added to these, we have the English land system tending to the aggregation of land, and offering every obstacle to its dispersion or easy transfer, we can well account for the paucity of landowners in Ireland; and for the fact that even when compared with England their number is so very limited.

None of the justifications which are claimed for the system of England apply to Ireland. The same laws and the same system has achieved results in the two countries as different as possible. England is in the main a country of large landowners and of large farm holdings. Ireland is a country, proportionally of even larger landowners, but of very small farm holdings. Of its 533,000 farm tenancies, 450,000 are of less than 50 acres, and 50,000 between 50 acres and 100 acres. It is, therefore, essentially a country of peasant cultivators. In England the custom is for the landowner to effect all the substantial improvements on page 90

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the farm; to build the farm-houses and other buildings, to drain and fence the land. In Ireland the landlord as a general rule does none of these. It is the tenant who lays out what little capital is spent in this way, even to the building of the house. He does this under a tenancy which is rarely more than a yearly holding.

The condition of Ireland is still more remarkable, when we consider that all experience from the Continent shows that farming on a small scale can only answer when largely combined with ownership; that it is the magic of ownership only which gives the inducement to the industry necessary for very small farms. Being a country of small farms, it is free from the argument that large properties are necessary in order that farming may be carried out on a large scale. It is equally free from the argument that large properties are economically advantageous, as they result in capital being invested in the land by the owner, and in tenants being able to use the whole of their capital in farming. Here then, of all places in the world, one would expect to find a large class of small owners. Apart from the recent sales under the Irish Church Act, there are none. There are all the conditions of a peasant proprietary, without any proprietary rights, or any fixity of tenure. The condition of Ireland before the famine of 1848 closely resembled the condition of France as described by Arthur Young, immediately page 91 before the Revolution of 1789. On the one hand,

Results of the System in Ireland.

a pauperised tenant class; and on the other great properties encumbered to a degree which made the owners mere ciphers in the hands of their creditors. This state of things was brought to a crisis by the potato famine. The consequent emigration relieved Ireland of its plethora of cottier tenants. The effort made by the imperial legislature was first directed to freeing property from its encumbrances; and the Encumbered Estates Court was brought into existence for the purpose of cutting the knots of these tangled interests in landed estates, and enabling them to be sold. It was believed and hoped that the land, thus freed from its bankrupt owners, would pass into the hands of capitalists, who would improve its condition by expending capital in buildings, drainage, &c. It is reckoned that one-fifth of the landed property of Ireland has passed through this Court, has changed hands, and the number of owners of such land has probably been increased threefold. Those however who devised this measure reckoned without taking into consideration Irish feelings and Irish customs. With rare exceptions, the new owners spent no more capital on the land than did their easy-going predecessors. When they attempted to improve, the tenants often resented the process. It was an assertion of complete ownership which did not tally with the ideas of Irish tenants, of their relations to their landlords. Whatever the English law page 92

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might be, the traditions, customs, and ideas of Irish tenants involved a relation to their landlords far different from that which holds in England; they claimed a participation in the proprietary rights, which was in fact conceded to them by custom, and which prevented the lords of the soil from ejecting them without good cause, arbitrarily raising rents, or appropriating, in the shape of increased rent, the value of the tenants' improvements. The new purchasers entered upon their properties without any of these traditional feelings, without any sympathy for their tenants, without any knowledge of local customs, or hereditary practices. They too frequently applied to their new purchases the most extreme doctrines of proprietorship; they thought they were entitled to raise rents to the highest rack-rental that could be extracted, regardless of the previous history of the estate, or of the customs of the country.

It cannot be denied that many cases of great hardship and injustice arose to Irish tenants. What was intended for their benefit resulted not unfrequently in their ruin.

The result therefore of the Encumbered Estates Act was to intensify the demand for the recognition of tenant right, and to give a great impulse to political agitation in favour of fixity of tenure. England at last turned an ear to Irish grievances, and the Land Act of 1870 was framed, on the principle of applying to the Irish land question so much of Irish page 93 ideas as was not wholly incompatible with English

Results of the System in Ireland.

doctrines.

It gave legal recognition for the first time to local customs such as the Ulster Tenant Right, which had created a practical property in the tenant. It reversed the doctrine of English law, that improvements of all kinds are annexed absolutely to the land, and in default of actual agreement enure wholly to the benefit of the landlord. It recognised the fact that in the case of tenants of small farms there could be such a thing as an arbitrary and capricious ejectment, and it gave to the tenant, who was ejected, a claim for any improvements effected, and damages for capricious ejectment. It did not, however, go the length of interfering between landlord and tenant as to the amount of rent. It left to the landlord the power of raising the rent to a point, when the rent would practically swallow up the value of the tenant's improvements, but it left to the tenant the option of refusing this rent, of throwing up his farm, and of making his claim for the value of his improvements and for disturbance of the tenancy, to which he would be entitled.

It is unnecessary to pursue further the question of tenant right or the relations of Irish landlords and tenants; it is, however, important to notice the impulse given by the state to the extension of proprietorship in substitution for tenancy, and to the creation of a class of peasant page 94

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proprietors, where none such existed previously. The framers of the Irish Laud Act, and of the Church Disestablishment Act, under the influence and impulse mainly of Mr. Bright, recognised the grave deficiency of proprietary rights in Ireland, and the expediency of endeavouring to increase the number of proprietors, and of converting where possible, by agreement or purchase, tenants into owners. This might indeed be deemed an alternative process to that of fixity of tenure demanded by the tenants. It was, at all events, though novel in its application as a remedy, in harmony with the ideas of English law and English proprietors. However unwilling Parliament might be to adopt any such plan in England, Ireland, it thought, might be an exception without raising any precedent dangerous to the principle of property.

The proposals in this direction met with no opposition in either branch of the Legislature. It is also worthy of notice that the first attempt to extend proprietary rights followed the example of France and Prussia. It was the secularisation of Church property which gave the opportunity for first experimenting in this direction. It was probably felt that to sell the landed property of the Irish Church in the open market was to risk its falling into the hands of persons who would capriciously and arbitrarily raise rents; and it was thought not only fair to offer such land in the first instance to its tenants, but that the result of page 95 increasing the number of proprietors would be a

Results of the System in Ireland.

gain to the cause of property in Ireland. The Irish Church Act, therefore, directed the Commissioners charged with the sale of Church lands to give preference to the tenants, and to charge the land sold to them with the repayment of three-fourths of the purchase-money by instalments spread over thirty-two years.

The intentions of Parliament were admirably carried out by the Irish Church Commissioners. They have earned the gratitude of the Irish people by pointing the road where it is possible much further progress may hereafter be made. They might have obstructed the policy of Parliament, or they might have neglected to make it known to the tenants. They have, on the contrary, used their endeavours to make the policy of Parliament intelligible and acceptable to the tenants.

Under this operation nearly 5,000 tenants of the Church property, of the smallest class, have found one-fourth of the purchase-money for their farms, and have become absolute owners in lieu of tenants; for thirty-two years they will be responsible for annual instalments of the principal and interest of the remainder of the purchase-money, which are about equivalent to their former rent. It is in evidence that these new purchasers have paid their interest with regularity and without fail, and that many of them have already been induced to effect great improvements on page 96

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their holdings, the result of the feeling of security created by absolute ownership in place of yearly tenancy.

The Irish Land Act contained provisions known as "the Bright Clauses" in the same direction, and with the same object, that of creating a proprietary class among the peasant fanners of Ireland. Under these clauses the State undertakes to lend two thirds of the purchase-money of any farm sold to a tenant, repayable, as in the case of the Church property, by instalments spread over a term of years. The Landed Estates Court (the successor of the Encumbered Estates Court), is directed by the Act to afford facilities to tenants to purchase their holdings, when estates are sold in that Court, and various other provisions are contained with the same object. Hitherto, however, but little result has followed. In the eight years which have elapsed since the passing of the Act, not more than 100 sales have been effected to tenants in each year under its provisions,—a result which, whether compared with the results of the Irish Church Act, or with the intention and wishes of the Legislature, is certainly most inadequate.

The attention of Parliament has recently been directed to the failure of the Act of 1871. A Committee was appointed in the session of 1877, to inquire into the working of the Bright clauses, and to report whether any further facilities should be given to promote the purchase of their holdings by page 97 the occupying tenants of Ireland. After taking

Results of the System in Ireland.

evidence of numerous witnesses, the Committee reported in the session of 1878. Its members unanimously agreed to the expression of opinion that there is a great desire on the part of the occupying tenants to become owners by purchase, on sale of properties in Ireland, and that it is most desirable that further facilities should be accorded by the State with this object. There were differences in the Committee as to the mode in which this object should be carried out, but there was none as to the principle. In the past session (1879) a resolution was proposed in the House of Commons, and was carried without opposition and with the consent of the Government, to the effect that "in view of the expediency of a considerable increase in the number of owners of land in Ireland among the class of persons cultivating its soil, legislation should be adopted for the purpose of increasing the facilities offered by the State with this object, and of securing to the tenants the opportunity of purchase on the sale of property consistently with the interests of the owners thereof." A stronger resolution condemning the condition of landownership in Ireland, or more emphatically declaring the duty of the State to adopt effective measures for remedying this condition, could not easily be framed. It is certain therefore that the Government must speedily propose to Parliament some measure with this object.

The evidence given before the Committee on this page 98

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subject in 1877-78 is eminently worthy of attention, as showing the great obstacles which the land system opposes to the purchase and ownership of land by the peasant cultivators of Ireland. It shows that as a rule the tenants are most desirous of becoming owners by purchase of their holdings, that they often give for the mere right of occupancy sums which are not much less than the value of the fee-simple of the land; that they are ready to give more than the average price given by outsiders; but that as a rule they never have or can have the opportunity of purchase. The cost of title, the difficulties of conveyance, and the delay and trouble to both vendor and purchaser, absolutely preclude the possibility of any separate transaction of sale as between landlord and tenant, for the purpose of taking advantage of the Act, however much either of them, or both, may wish it.

It was admitted by the officials of the Landed Estates Court, and by every witness examined before the Committee, that a single tenancy will never bear the cost of investigation of title, and that therefore sales by agreement to single farmers, with the object of carrying out the Act, were almost impossible. "A single tenancy," says Mr. McDonnell, one of the examiners of the Court, "will not bear the cost of the investigation of title; a gentleman is offered 2,000l. for a tenant's farm, and he would have to pay 200l, for the cost of showing title to it.

The smallest property cannot be passed through page 99 the Court for a less cost than 100l. A small holding

Results of the System in Ireland.

of 10 acres is not worth more than 250l. The costs of the transfer would swallow up forty per cent, of the purchase-money.

The only chance which the tenants have of becoming purchasers is where a whole estate is sold, and the lots can be so arranged as to enable the tenants to bid, and purchase either separately or jointly. The costs in such ease are distributed over the property, and little extra cost is incurred by selling in smaller lots.

The importance of this evidence is the light it throws upon our system of land transfer, and the grave obstacle presented to any purchaser of a small holding. Landlord and tenant may be desirous of effecting the sale, but the costs of investigation of title make the transaction hopeless and impossible. Who can say, with this light thrown upon it, that the present state of landownership is the result of purely economic laws? With such difficulties opposed to the creation of small owners, what must not be the difficulties incurred by the small owner when brought into existence? Every dealing with his property is fraught with the expense and delay of a system the most antiquated and absurd. He cannot mortgage his property without great expense. The whole of our laws of inheritance and transfer are wholly unsuitable to small owners. Having called into existence a class of small owners, there is urgent need that the laws should page 100

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be made suitable for their continued existence, and such as will enable them to deal with their land in a manner to prevent its being a burthen and expense to them.

Looking back to 1848, when the. Imperial Parliament devised means for encumbered landowners to sell their properties, what might not have been the result by this time, if advantage had then been, taken to promote the sale of such properties to their tenants? Many thousands of tenants might have been added to the class of owners of land by this process; and who can doubt what would be the result of such an accession to the class of persons permanently interested in the soil of their native country? The opportunity has been lost, but with our experience of the last eight years of what has been done under the Irish Church Act and the Land Act, it is still possible in the future to do much. Who can say that, with such experience, the creation of a class of peasant proprietors in Ireland is a mere dream? What has been achieved may be but the commencement of a new policy which shall favour the spread or creation of ownership rather than tenancy. Can it be doubted that good results would follow the creation of such a class in Ireland? Who can look at the state of ownership of landed property in that island without feeling how insecure is its basis—how limited is the class of persons who are interested in its rights? What would not be the advantage to page 101 Ireland, if of its 550,000 peasant farmers, a fair

Results of the System in Ireland.

proportion were owners as well as occupiers? They would be an element of security both in the political and social system. They would exercise a powerful influence in promoting industry and thrift. They would raise the standard of production. They would supply the step of the ladder by which the lowest might hope to arrive at the position of landowners. Is it possible to suppose that such a result is beyond the reach of political effort? The success of the experiment in the sale of Church lands forbids a negative to the answer, and raises every hope for further success in a direction so full of promise to Ireland.

It will be said, perhaps, in answer to this, that the economic condition of small farms is unsound —that a greater net produce would result, and a higher rent to the landlord, if a number of these small farms were thrown into one, and their tenants, with one exception, turned into day labourers. Whether this economic result would be produced is a matter open to doubt. In the opinion of many, small owners will hold their own in production against large farms. But even if it were not so, it may be confidently asked, whether any one would contemplate with pleasure the conversion of every twenty small Irish farms of fifteen acres each into large farms of 300 acres? Is the condition of the English labourer such that the Irish small farmer would envy his lot? Which is the page 102

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superior in general status in the world? Which has the pleasanter lot and the better hope for the future? Which is the best member of society? Which has the best opportunity of rising?

Whatever, however, English economists and theorists may think upon the subject of small farms versus large farms, and small proprietors versus large proprietors, it will be impossible to persuade the Irish tenants to any other than one conclusion. Their instinct and their traditions are opposed to any conversion of small farmers into day labourers. There remains therefore the only alternative, to increase the productive power of the small farmers by offering to them the opportunity of converting themselves by purchase into owners, wherever this can be done without injury to the rights of property; and by throwing the influence, weight, and sanction of the State in favour of a widely-diffused ownership of land, as opposed to the opposite system which has been at work in Ireland since its subjection to the rule and law of England.