Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/244

 228 IRELAND [AGRICULTURE. 1,413,944. The loans sanctioned since the passing of the Acts in 1863 amount to 553,295. The advances on account thereof, including interest charged during the operations of the works, amount to 411,116, and repay ments, including interest, to 103,448. The total area of land drained and improved is 55,311 acres, at a cost of 325,705. In view of the prevalent agricultural distress, the Government on 29th November 1879 offered to land lords within the radius of distressed districts certain facili ties of obtaining loans under the Lands Improvement Acts, and on 12th January 1880 offered additional inducements. Of the sum of 1,500,000 borrowed from the Church Temporalities Commissioners for relief works, 1,166,385 had up to March 1881 been sanctioned as loans to land lords, and of this sum 702,857 had been issued. The amount issued as Seeds Loans, under the Seed Supply Act of 1880, was for year ending 31st March 1881 494,317, making a total of 647,490 since the passing of the Act. One of the chief obstacles to agricultural improvement in Ireland has been the unsatisfactory relations between landlord and tenant. The legislation bearing on the sub ject has been of a very various and contradictory character. An immense number of holdings was created by the Free hold Votes Act of 1793; but in 1816 an Act was passed to facilitate the working of the Ejectment Act first passe i in the reign of Queen Anne. In 1851 an Act was passed to facilitate ejectments in cases of implied tenancies from year to year under 50 rental, and in 1860 these facilities were increased and extended to all tenancies. There are no records of evictions earlier than 1849. A special return presented to the House of Commons in April 1881 gives by provinces and counties the number of evictions for each year from 1849 to 1880, as ascertained by the police-. The numbers are of course only approxi mately correct, but err by defect, not by excess. The total number of families evicted during that period was 90,107, comprising 460,570 persons; but of these, 21,340 families, comprising 115,859 persons, were readmitted. Deducting readmissions, the numbers in 1849 were 13,384 families, 72,065 persons; in 1850 they were 14, 5 46 families, 74,171 persons; in 1851 they declined to 8815 families, 43,449 persons; and they gradually diminished until 1856, from which year until 1862 the numbers though fluctu ating fell short in each year of 1000 families. There was a considerable diminution from 1865 till 1878, when they rose to 834 families, or 3916 persons, while in 1879 the numbers were 1098 families, or 5576 persons, and in 1880 they were 1893, or 9036 persons. During the half year ending 30th June 1881 the numbers evicted were 1433 families or 6557 persons. In 1865 it. was enacted that no evictions should take place without the intervention of the sheriff; but, although a means was thus supplied of obtaining records absolutely correct, the sheriffs in some instances neglect to send in returns. In Table XX. the figures for 1870-79 are taken from the judicial statistics, and those for 1880 from a special return. These ejectments do not include thosp of cottiers and weekly tenants in towns whose cases are decided by petty sessions. The large increase of ejectments since 1870 shows that the Landlord and Tenant Act of that year has failed in ordinary circumstances to improve the relations between landlord and tenant ; and, while some of its pro visions have had in certain respects a beneficial effect, it has also exercised a variety of prejudicial influences, and not only broke completely down under the strain of the famine of 1879, but in many cases led to the almost unavoidable infliction of great hardship on the tenant. The salient prin ciple of the Act was the abandonment of the position assumed in the Act of 1860, which endeavoured to place the relation of landlord and tenant on the simple basis of con tract. Stated positively, its leading features were the legal confirmation of the Ulster tenant-right and other ancient customs, the provision made for compensation for loss on quitting and for improvements, and the sanctioning of grants on loan and other facilities to tenants to aid in the pur chase of their holdings. Since the passing of the Act the average sum adjudged annually in cases between landlord and tenant has been over 18,000, of which more than a third has been for Ulster tenant-right. The amount adjudged annually has varied considerably but irregularly, and of late years there has been a diminution in the number of cases. The judicial statistics give information, in reference to the several counties and provinces, as to the number of cases, the amount charged where decrees were made, the amount reduced or added on appeal, and the amount adjudged, distinguishing also between compensation for loss on quitting holdings and improvements together, for loss on quitting holdings alone, and for improvements alone. In 1877 and 1878 an additional column was added, giving also the total sum claimed. The sum claimed in 1877 was 225,225 for the 598 cases, an average of 425, the gross sum adjudged being only 15,401, or an average of 25, 10s. ; in 1878 the sum claimed was 176,954, an average of 344 for the 514 cases, the gross sum adjudged being 17,063, or an average of 33; in 1879 the gross sum adjudged was 12,654. The total number of loans made to aid tenants in purchasing their holdings up to 31st March 1881 was only 849, and the gross sum granted 492,370. Table XXI. gives various details. According to a special return made to the House of Commons in April 1881, the number of holdings sold by the Church Temporalities Commission up to 30th December 1880 was 2444 to the public, and 6195 to tenants. Of the 411 pur chasers who had fallen in arrears, 332 were purchasing ten ants, arrears 46 19, and 79 other purchasers, arrears 3813. To remedy the defects of the Act of 1870, a new Act was passed in 1881. Practically it secures to the tenant a near approximation to the &quot; three F s &quot; &quot; free sale,&quot; &quot; fail- rent,&quot; and &quot;fixity of tenure.&quot; &quot;Free sale&quot; is granted so far as is compatible with a due regard to the rights of the proprietor. The &quot;fairness&quot; of a rent may be decided by the &quot; intervention of court,&quot; and, while on certain condi tions a &quot; fixed tenancy &quot; may be agreed upon between landlord and tenant, an approximation to this is obtained in other cases by provisions in regard to rent and &quot; com pensation.&quot; Additional facilities have also been given to tenants to purchase their holdings, and provision has been made for grants of money to aid in the reclamation of land and in emigration. A feature of the Act is the creation of a land commission as a supreme court of appeal except in special cases, in questions between landlord and tenant, and with the power of sanctioning loans. Leases are not held by so many as one-tenth of the total number of farmers, tsnancy-at-will being preferred, partly for the freedom it allows, and partly because it is thought to involve a tacit consent to permanent occupancy. TABLE XX. Ejectment Decrees executed from 1870-80. 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. J874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1873. 1880. Total ejectments 1301 1288 1173 1777 2170 2119 1839 1957 2517 3526 2888 Ejectments for non-pay ment of rent 813 861 800 1256 1567 1467 1521 1032 1749 2677 2447