Page:The Irish land acts; a short sketch of their history and development.djvu/24

16 cases in which the landlord does any of these things are the exception. In most cases, whatever is done in the way of building or fencing is done by the tenant, and in the ordinary language of the country—dwelling-houses, farm buildings, and even the making of fences, are described by the general word improvements, which is thus employed to denote the general adjuncts to a farm, without which, in England or Scotland, no tenant would be found to rent it."

Effects of Political and Economic Changes on the Relations between Landlord and Tenant during the 19th century.

In the early part of the last century the landlords, for political as well as commercial reasons, encouraged the sub-division of farms, and a consequent increase in the number of the tenantry. The political system that prevailed gave considerable power to the landlord who had a large number of tenants. The economic conditions of the time made small tillage farming productive, and the demand caused by an over-growing agricultural population increased the competition for land, created a "land hunger," and enabled the rents to be raised. About the middle of the century all these conditions altered. The combined influence of the Famine and the introduction of Free Trade made it the interest of most owners of good land to get rid of their small tenants as expeditiously and completely as possible. Now came the era of pasture and larger farms. Although the population rapidly decreased, the consolidation of farms kept up the competition for land, and rents rose rapidly. The "clearances" so common from the Famine in 1870 were made in many cases quite irrespective of the non-payment of rent, and were greatly facilitated by the provisions of the Act of 1860. Emigration was the only resource for the dispossessed tenants, and the result was outrage and constant agrarian disturbance. Various suggestions for a reform of the Land Laws were made, but such proposals were usually denounced as confiscatory. Mr. Butt's proposal, in 1866, that 63 years' leases, with power to the landlord of varying the rent, when any accidental circumstances increased the value of the land, should be given by every landlord to his tenants, was described by Lord Dufferin as "communistic" and " as subversive of the rights of property." Mr. John Stuart Mill, speaking on a Land Bill introduced by Mr. Chichester Fortescue (May 17th, 1865), denounced the policy of clearing away the small tenants to make room for capitalist farmers. "You cannot," he said, "evict a whole nation." Various attempts to alter the law were defeated, until at length, in 1870, Mr. Gladstone introduced and passed his Landlord and Tenant Act—the beginning of a new Land Code.