asked the Secretary of State for India, Whether his attention has been drawn to the proposal to incorporate in the Indian Criminal Code, as permanent Clauses, the provisions of certain Acts of the years 1817 and 1818, by which the Governor General of India, or Lieutenant Governor of a Presidency may imprison at pleasure, without trial, for any period, any person suspected of being concerned in any commotion or agitation in British India, or any protected Native State; and also to attach for any period at pleasure any property belonging to such person, without any appeal to any court ordinarily having jurisdiction in cases of property; whether the only exceptions in the whole of India to the permanent operation of the proposed coercions are delared to be the European subjects of Her Majesty in India; whether the passing of such a measure of coercion exclusively against the Natives of India has received the sanction of the Home Government; and, if so, whether he will state the grounds for reviving in the present year Coercion Acts of extreme severity, dating from the years 1817 and 1818, at a time of general war in India?

Sir, at the suggestion of the India Office, the Government of India has been engaged for some time in preparing a Bill for the purpose of consolidating and amending the Indian Criminal Code. The Bill has recently been received at the India Office, and my attention has been called to the point referred to by the hon. Member—that provisions of certain Acts passed in 1817 and 1818 had been incorporated in the Bill. As those Acts did not form part of the Criminal Law, it appeared open to doubt whether they ought to have been included in the Bill for the consolidation of the Criminal Law. The attention of the Government of India will be directed to the point.

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If it is true that the negotiations as to the Fortune Bay fishery disputes have been concluded; and, whether he can state to the House the terms agreed upon?

Sir, the Papers which are about to be presented to Parliament will show that there has been an active correspondence with the Government of the United States as to the best means of settling this matter. In February, the United States Government proposed that the claims of American fishermen should be assessed by the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Evarts, and Sir Edward Thornton, either Government reserving the question of its Treaty rights. Lord Granville accepted that proposal; but intimated that it might be preferable for him to name a lump sum, and thus secure a prompt arrangement with a view to coming to an understanding with the United States Government as to the regulations to be observed by the fishermen of the respective countries in the coming fishing season. Mr. Evarts concurred, and the United States Minister in London was thereupon informed that Her Majesty's Government were ready to hold the sum of £15,000, or $75,000, at the disposal of the Government of the United States, on receiving his assurance that it was accepted in full of all claims arising out of any interruptions of American fishermen on the coast of Newfoundland and its dependencies up to the present time, and without prejudice to any question of the rights of either Government under the Treaty of Washington. Lord Granville felt bound to ask for an assurance covering all claims, as notice had been received from the United States Government of other claims besides those of the Fortune Bay fishermen, and it was possible that there might be others forthcoming. Mr. Evarts demurred to giving this assurance, though he said he had no reason to believe there were any other claims than those presented, which were estimated by the claimants, including interest, to amount to about $120,000. The Administration at Washington having changed on the 4th of March, the negotiations were resumed with Mr. Blaine, Mr. Evarts' successor, who, after some discussion as to the sufficiency of the sum offered, has now consented to give the required assurance in full, and has also agreed to come to an understanding with Her Majesty's Government as to the fishery regulations for the future. Her Majesty's Government are in communication with the Government of Newfoundland, the Governor of Newfoundland and the Premier (Sir W. Whiteway) being in London, and are in hopes that by a proper system of fishing regulations, and by due notice being given to the Newfoundland fishermen of the rights to which American fishermen are entitled, any occasion of collision or misunderstanding for the future may be obviated.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, If he is aware of the very serious inconvenience and delay caused in the Court of Bankruptcy in Ireland by reason of the inability of the existing staff to dispose of the business; and, if the Government are taking any, and, if so, what steps to appoint a successor to the late chief clerk of the court, who died over three months ago?

Sir, I am aware that serious inconvenience and delay has been caused in the Court of Bankruptcy in Ireland, owing to the fact that there is no power at present of appointing a successor to the late chief clerk. I have, however, given Notice of a Bill to amend the law relating to the official staff of the Court, one of the objects of which is to meet the inconvenience to which the hon. Member has drawn attention.

asked the President of the Local Government Board, If he will lay upon the Table a Return showing the cost of educating and maintaining Pauper Children in the Schools belonging to the Metropolitan Workhouses; the Return to include the cost of the establishments, and also the amounts allowed by the Guardians of the different Workhouses to other Schools to which Pauper Children are sent?

in reply, said, that in the last annual Report of the Local Government Board for 1879–80, on page 396 and the following pages, would be found a statement with respect to the cost of education of pauper children in the Metropolitan district schools. A similar statement would be found in the Report for 1880–1. But the statements did not include the amount paid by Guardians for pauper children in the other schools. If the hon. Member wished to have that information, and would move for a Return, he should be happy to give it him. He should be happy to confer with him as to the form of the Return.

asked the President of the Board of Trade, If he will be good enough to give instructions for the preparation of a Memorandum explanatory of the changes made in the new French Tariff in the duties levied on articles of agricultural produce similar to the introduction, explanatory of those levied on goods and manufactures, prefixed to the new French Tariff, No. 253?

Sir, the introduction that has been attached as a preface to the comparative Return of French Customs duties in the new Tariff was intended to show the principal changes in the duties on articles of British produce and manufacture which are exported to France in any quantity; and there being no such articles of agricultural produce imported into France from this country, agricultural products were not mentioned. A supplementary statement showing the changes in these duties could be prepared; but, as all the figures are given in the body of the Return, it would seem hardly desirable to do so.

asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether his attention has been called to the following statement in the "Standard" on May 28th:—

"In a letter from Montsuine to General Wood he says that he has been obliged to take up arms owing to the Boers instigating his enemies to attack him, because he was faithful to the English during the war. He wants to know what measures the Commission intend to take for his protection;"

and, whether such letter has been received; and, if so, what answer has been sent to Montsuine?

Sir, we have not heard that any such letter has been received by Sir Evelyn Wood. Of course, if the letter was received by him at the date mentioned by the hon. and learned Member, it would not reach us for some considerable time to come.

asked the Right Honourable Member for Cambridge Uni- versity, Whether it is the case that by reason of the Acts constituting the British Museum it is impossible to remove, even temporarily, objects of art therein deposited to any other National Museum; and, if so, whether this prevents the formation of exhibitions of classified objects which have conduced materially to the amusement and instruction of the nation; and, whether any remedy short of an Act of Parliament can be applied?

in reply, said, that on more than one occasion the Trustees of the British Museum had consulted the Law Officers of the Crown upon the point referred to in the Question of the hon. Member, and they had been invariably advised that they were bound to keep all these objects within the Museum. There was, therefore, no remedy for the present state of things but to change the law—if that should be deemed advisable—by passing a fresh Act of Parliament.

asked the Vice President of the Council, Whether it is his intention to proceed with the Educational Endowments (Scotland) Bill this Session?

Yes, Sir; it is most certainly the desire and intention of the Government to proceed with the Bill this Session, and it will be a great disappointment to us if the measure fails to pass before the rising of Parliament. We hope, after Whitsuntide, to devise means for effecting this, without interfering with the progress of the Land Law (Ireland) Bill.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, If it is the fact that the forms of Valuation Lists supplied by the Commissioners of Valuation to the Waterford Union do not give the value of lands independently of buildings but include under the one head the value of both lands and buildings; and, if so, can he state why forms differing in such important particulars from the forms used in the Valuation Office and supplied to the North Dublin, Balrothery, and other unions, should be furnished to the Waterford Union; and have not the guardians of the Waterford Union requested to be supplied with forms containing separate headings for buildings and lands; and, can he give the reason, if any, why such request has not been complied with?

Sir, the facts are as stated in the Question. The existing form, which has been in use for 20 years, has been approved of, pursuant to the statute, by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, and contains all necessary particulars for rating purposes. The county of Dublin, however, has to be treated differently from the rest of Ireland, owing to the fact that it contains several separate townships where there are special rates levied on houses only.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, If he can say when the Report of the Municipal Boundaries Commissioners, dealing with Waterford, Limerick, Londonderry, Drogheda, and Belfast, will be presented to the House?

The Chairman of the Commission informs me, Sir, that he is "working as hard as he can" to complete the second volume of this Report, which deals with all the towns mentioned in the Question; but he is as yet unable to fix any specific date on which it can be presented to Parliament.

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether under the Land Law Bill as it now stands, it will be necessary that in sales of land in the Landed Estates Court, the conveyance from the Court, in setting forth the tenancies to which the property may be subject, must state when such tenancies are held under statutory conditions that such is the case; whether if the conveyance does not state this, he has considered that all statutory terms created by the Court under the Bill will be liable to be defeated; whether after the passing of the Land Act of 1870 a simi- lar question did not arise with regard to the Ulster tenant right custom; whether, in consequence of an expression of opinion of one of the Judges of the Court of Appeal in Ireland, an Act to amend the Land Act of 1870 (34 and 35 Vic. c. 92) had not to be passed making it unnecessary to state in Landed Estate Court conveyances that holdings were subject to the Ulster custom; and, whether therefore, the Government intend to introduce an express provision into the present Land Bill to prevent the same difficulty from arising with regard to statutory terms?

in reply, said, he did not in the least degree wish to disparage the importance of the point raised in the Question; but he hoped he would be permitted to adjourn any treatment of it until it came into its proper place in Committee on the Bill. It would cause great confusion if he were to make future portions of the Bill the subject of reply to Questions.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether he is aware that the sanitary accommodation in Kilmainham Prison is insufficient and filthy; whether he will give his early attention to the subject; and, whether, especially, he will cause the sanitary appliances of the Prison to be increased in number and kept in good order?

Sir, I have received a Report on this subject from the General Prisons Board. The sanitary accommodation in Kilmainham Prison is stated not to be either insufficient or filthy. On the contrary, the sanitary appliances are, I am informed, adequate and kept in perfectly good order.

said, that his information was entirely the contrary of the right hon. and learned Gentleman's statement.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether it is true that three brothers have for some time been lying in Limerick Gaol under the Coercion Act, of whom the eldest is not twenty years of age, and the youngest sixteen; and, whether he will now allow the suspected juveniles to be released, in order that they may be sent to school somewhere?

Sir, I assume that the Question has reference to William, Patrick, and Lawrence Quinlan. Before the hon. Member gave Notice of his Question the attention of his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant had been called to the matter, and he has been pleased to order the discharge of Lawrence, the youngest brother, but finds no ground for discharging either William or Patrick, both of whom are considerably over 20 years of age.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, If he will state on what grounds Michael Kelly, of Drum Kieran, county Leitrim, was arrested, on the 9th March last, under the Protection of Person and Property (Ireland) Act; if a careful investigation into the circumstances of the crime which caused his arrest was made by the county inspector, resident magistrate, and sub-inspector of the district; whether it is a fact that previous to his arrest Michael Kelly had borne a good character; and, if the authorities under the Local Government Board have given out-door relief to the prisoner's family?

Sir, Michael Kelly, of Drumahaire, not Drum Kieran, was arrested, as stated in the Lord Lieutenant's Warrant, and in the Return presented to Parliament, pursuant to the Protection of Person and Property Act, on the ground of being reasonably suspected of having, since the 30th September, 1880, been guilty, as principal, of a crime punishable by law—that is to say, assaulting and beating one of Her Majesty's subjects—committed in a prescribed district, and being an act of violence, and tending to interfere with the maintenance of law and order. Careful investigation was made into the circumstances of the crime which caused his arrest. Previous to his arrest he had borne a bad character, and had been repeatedly convicted at petty ses- sions for assaults and other breaches of the peace. The Local Government Board have not received any application from the Guardians of the Union in which Drumahaire is situated for authority to give outdoor relief under Section 2 of the Protection of Person and Property Act.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether P. M'Manus was tried at the Drumshambo Petty Sessions on the charge of taking part in a riotous and unlawful assembly on January 2nd last; whether the charge was not dismissed; and, whether he has not since been arrested and imprisoned in Kilmainham for precisely the same alleged offence?

Sir, M'Manus was charged at Drumshambo Petty Sessions with the offence of intimidation under the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875; but the ground of his arrest and imprisonment in Kilmainham, as appears by the Warrant, is riot and unlawful assembly.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether it is a fact that Mr. Denis Hogan, of Ballyvaughan, county Clare, has been refused licence by Mr. D. B. Franks, the resident magistrate of the district, although he presented a certificate of character and of his fitness to carry arms assigned by two magistrates of the district?

Yes, Sir; Mr. Denis Hogan applied to Mr. Franks, R.M., and licensing officer of the Ballyvaughan district, for an arms licence under the 4th sub-section of the 4th clause of the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Act, 1881; but the certificate which he produced did not comply with the requirements of that enactment, and the magistrate, therefore, declined to act upon it.

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, after the additional information which has been supplied to him in respect to the Crown Estate at Stagsden, Bedfordshire, he is prepared to grant the inquiry into the management of the said Estate asked for in the House on 20th May?

asked the right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister, before he answered the hon. Member for Bedfordshire, to allow him to put a further Question: Whether, since his last statement on the subject, in which his right hon. Friend had said there was nothing like hardship or severity inflicted in the general management of the estate, any additional information had been received from Mr. Gore; whether the right hon. Gentleman had any reason to doubt the general accuracy of the Report which had been made to him by the Department of Woods and Forests; and, whether, if he had received any further information on the subject, he would kindly state from what quarter it had come?

in reply, said, that since he made a statement on this subject, it had been made known to him that a certain error, not of very great consequence, had crept into it. In the summary he gave him, Mr. Gore omitted to deduct the acreage of plantations and other allotments, and in consequence the average rental was misstated by him at 25s., instead of which it ought to have been 28s. Apart from that error, which was admitted to have taken place since that time, his hon. Friend the Member for Bedfordshire (Mr. J. Howard) had supplied much information which he relied upon to a different effect. In this conflict of opinion it would certainly not be right for him (the Prime Minister) to propose that there should be an inquiry into the management of this particular estate, because that would imply an unfavourable judgment with regard to the statement of Mr. Gore, in whom they reposed as much confidence as in any public officer; but, on the other hand, in justice to his hon. Friend, he thought the proper course would be this—not that he (Mr. Howard) should be dependent on a verbal statement made by him (Mr. Gladstone), but that Mr. Gore should make a special Report with regard to this estate. When that Report was made, his hon. Friend would form his own judgment on the points with which he had to grapple, and the House would also be put in possession of the facts, and in a position to judge of them.

said, that, to put himself in Order, he would conclude with a Motion. He had been many years a Member of the House, and he thought there were few Members who would charge him with having wasted its time. He would not have taken the present course if he did not feel that he owed a duty to a certain number of his constituents that he should call attention to this subject. In this matter he had been met in the most unfair manner by the Government. In the first place, when he brought the question privately under their notice, he was met by the most erroneous statements, which, however, he was at once able to disprove; and then, when he asked a Question in the House, the Premier made a statement based upon an over-estimate of the size of the estate to the extent of 25 per cent, which completely upset all his other calculations; and the House was left with the impression that he (Mr. Howard) had brought forward a trumped-up case. He would tell the House some of the leading facts of the case. This estate was purchased by the Crown seven years ago from the trustees of Lord Dynevor; and since then the imperious treatment and the rack-renting of the tenants had been a public scandal throughout the county. Not long since one of these tenants committed suicide, leaving behind him a memorandum, which was so shocking that he would not read it to the House. [Cries of "Oh!" and "Read!" from the Irish Benches.] Well, if the House desired to hear it, the memorandum was, so far as he remembered, to the effect that the Crown Agent was his murderer; and there was evidence produced at the Coroner's inquest to show that this man had repeatedly declared that he could not live under the Crown. The Prime Minister had understated the rent of this unfortunate man, and had said nothing about the tenant having to pay the tithe, insurance, and other matters. The rent altogether was 38s. 5d. per acre, and this for some of the poorest land in Bedfordshire. He would also let the House know what other tenants on the estate had to say.

rose to Order. There was a Notice of Motion on the Order Paper in the name of the hon. Member for Cardiganshire (Mr. Pugh), who proposed to move to reduce the salaries of the officials of the Woods and Forest Department by £2,100. The Notice of the hon. Member would raise the whole question now being dealt with by the hon. Member for Bedfordshire. He wished to know, therefore, whether that hon. Member was in Order in anticipating the judgment of the House?

The Notice of Amendment referred to by the noble Lord is not of a character to exclude the observations of the hon. Member for Bedfordshire.

said, he would mention several other cases in which the rents on the estate had been greatly raised by the Crown Agents. For instance, in another case, a farm had been in occupation of a family for more than a century. The original rent was £323; in 1854 the farm was re-valued, and raised to £432; but in 1874, when the Crown came into possession, the agent, Mr. Clutton, raised the rent to £808, besides miscellaneous charges for drainage, fire insurance, and so forth, making £838 in all. Again, in another instance, the rent was raised from £771 to £1,140; in another, from £299 to £521. The tenant of this last-mentioned farm was 76 years of age, and he was allowed just one month to decide whether he would sign the lease, of which he disapproved or be turned out of his farm. But the imperious conduct of the Crown Agents was not confined to the tenants upon the estate; for they did not scruple to set the rural sanitary authority, of which he (Mr. Howard) himself had been a member, at defiance, and, rather than carry out the orders of that body, they had pulled down between 20 and 30 cottages. All he wanted was an inquiry into the circumstances by an impartial body. Was it to go forth to the country that respectable tenants, holding under the Crown, were to be treated as vassals, as they had been, and to be rack-rented in the fashion he had described, and yet an inquiry into the facts refused; and this, forsooth, under a Liberal Government! He would never rest until the facts of the case were fully before the public. The hon. Gen- tleman concluded by moving the adjournment of the House.

seconded the Motion.

in reply, said, he gathered from the speech of his hon. Friend (Mr. J. Howard), that he attributed to him the responsibility for the statement he had made and the interruptions it had caused. He could only say that he was very sorry if, in any of the particulars of his answer to his hon. Friend, he had failed to satisfy his hon. Friend. It was not intended, and he was still more sorry that he had obliged the hon. Member to make the Motion. His hon. Friend had said that he was not one of those who were in the habit of wasting the time of the House, and that he (Mr. Gladstone) believed to be entirely true; but if that were to imply that those hon. Gentlemen who had not been in the habit of wasting time were to choose the present juncture to begin the habit of taking up the time of the House, the position of the House in regard to Business, which was already serious, would become woeful indeed. As to the immediate subject of the Motion for Adjournment, he might say that he had not measured the estate or inspected the books; and his hon. Friend had had the advantage, whatever it might be, of putting forward a number of statements which he had, no doubt, given in perfect good faith, but in regard to the correction of which, or the filling up of which, or the further illustration of which, no person in the House at that moment, he would venture to say, was in a position to take any action. In these circumstances, he trusted that the House would reserve its judgment, and that his hon. Friend would see the propriety of withdrawing his Motion. He ventured to think that if his hon. Friend would allow the matter to go forward in the manner suggested—namely, by obtaining a statement from the proper officer responsible, that would be a preferable mode of dealing with the subject. The error of stating that the rent was 25s. an acre, instead of 28s., was not an error of the proper officer, but an error committed by those who made the summary for him (Mr. Gladstone) in the statement he made. With regard to what had been said as to the cruel suffering of tenants of the Crown, he would only venture to say one thing, and he thought it absolutely necessary to say it, and that was as to those who managed the Crown estates. He thought the House would appreciate the significance of his statement, when he informed them that the agricultural interest of the Crown property was considerably over £100,000 a-year, and at that moment there were but three farms in land.

said, he would not have interfered in the discussion; but the accusation of murder against Mr. Gore obliged him to say one word in his defence.

I rise to Order. Mr. Speaker—[Cries of "Order, order!"]

ruled that the noble Lord was in possession of the House.

resuming, said, he certainly gathered that such a charge was made. Now, whoever had had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Gore knew that there was not a more able servant, or one more just. The fact stated by the Prime Minister showed that the Crown Estates were managed well by the officers of that Department. With regard to Mr. Gore's management, the figures were these. The estate contained 3,097 acres; £119,000 were paid for it, and £21,000 were expended by the Crown in improving it. In 1878 there was a reduction of 11 per cent; 1879, 17 per cent; 1880, of 22 per cent; and in 1881, 22 per cent reduction had been promised. Further, it must be borne in mind that these estates were administered, not for the benefit of the Department, but for that of the nation, and that the Agents were bound to do their duty under an Act of Parliament. The statute in question, the Land Revenue Act, provided that no land should be let except upon valuation, and that valuation must be made by a competent surveyor, who was bound to swear that the land was let at a reasonable rent. Upon these terms this land was let, like all the rest of the Crown Lands. He protested against a charge being made in this manner against a Crown Agent, in an unexpected way sprung upon the House without Notice on the Paper.

said, he fully admitted the general inconvenience of such impromptu debates; but would remind the House that in the state of Public Business now-a-days a Motion for Adjournment was sometimes the only means which the House possessed of controlling the actions of officials. He could not say he was very much struck with the eulogium which the noble Lord the Member for Haddingtonshire (Lord Elcho) had pronounced upon the Agent, because whenever a public officer was spoken of in that House in any terms except those of the most extreme praise, then every Member who had the honour and advantage of his acquaintanceship felt bound to testify that those who had that honour and advantage must admit that that particular public servant was as near a paragon as anyone could be. He was sure, from what he knew of the hon. Member opposite (Mr. J. Howard), that he had not introduced the subject except under the spur of necessity.

in withdrawing the Motion, begged the House to understand that he did not for a moment endorse the dying statement of the deceased tenant of the Crown; and, therefore, the noble Lord (Lord Elcho) had put words in his mouth which he had not uttered or entertained. He had simply stated a fact elicited at the Coroner's inquest. He did not know the gentleman in question (Mr. Gore); but he would embrace the opportunity of saying that it would be better for the nation if our public offices were not filled with aristocrats or their connections, who had to depend on more practical men to do the work for which they were paid.

rose to explain, and was met with loud cries of "Order!"

If the noble Lord desires to make any explanation, no doubt the House will give him indulgence.

explained that he understood the hon. Gentleman to accuse one of those who had to do with the administration of the Department, for which Mr. Gore was responsible, of murder. [Mr. JAMES HOWARD: No, no!] That was what he understood him to say.

asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is true that it is the intention of the Government to reduce the period that the command of a regiment may be held from five to four years, or after four years' service as a major to only two years; whether he is aware that the late lamentable disasters in the Transvaal are alleged to have been chiefly attributable to the manner in which young and inexperienced Staff Officers took the command of the troops out of the hands of the responsible regimental officers, and hurried the men on at critical moments; and, whether it is proposed to apply the new rule as to regimental commands to officers on their first and second appointment on the Staff of the Horse Guards and the Army generally?

Sir, I do not see the connection between the second part of my hon. Friend's Question and the first and third. A great many reasons, some not improbable, and some palpably absurd, have been given for our recent reverses in South Africa; but the only instance in which blame has been attributed in certain quarters to the interference of a Staff officer was in the instance of a colonel of about 27 years' service. I do not think that I could with advantage explain in detail what is proposed and will appear in the Warrant as to the length of a lieutenant-colonel's service; but, speaking generally, it will be from four to six years, and that of a major will be seven years, as now.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether it is a fact that the Roman Catholic chaplain of Naas jail is president or officer or member of the local Land League?

Yes, Sir.

May I ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman if he is aware that the Roman Catholic chaplain of Naas gaol is in receipt of a salary of £200?

I am aware that, being chaplain, he receives a salary; but the amount I do not know.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is the fact that one or two more surgeons employed in the compulsory examination of prostitutes under the Contagious Diseases Acts have been made justices of the peace, in order that they may carry out the Acts in a twofold capacity, administering and executing the Law; whether he will state by what Minister such gentlemen were recommended to Her Majesty for appointment; whether he approves of such a confusion of duties; and, whether the individuals in question should not be called upon to make their choice in respect of those Acts to act either as magistrates or as surgeons only?

I have been previously asked a similar Question by my hon. and learned Friend. If he has any grounds for thinking that the persons he refers to have been improperly appointed, or that they have misconducted themselves, and if he will state such grounds, I will cause the subject to be inquired into. I have no knowledge whatever that the appointments in question have been complained of.

reminded the right hon. and learned Gentleman that he had written to him naming three individuals at Devonport, Windsor, and Southampton acting as magistrates, and he asked whether they ought to perform these double functions; and, if so, whether that state of things was compatible with the Public Service?

said, he would make inquiry. He understood from his hon. and learned. Friend that these persons ought not to fulfil the duties he spoke of; but that must depend upon the nature of the duties, as to which he could not give an opinion until he had inquired.

Double duty.

asked the right hon. and learned Gentleman, in reference to his answer to the Question of the hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Stockport, whether they were to understand that due inquiry would be made into that matter; and, if it were found that the gentlemen referred to were acting in the double capacity, he would ex- press an opinion that that should not continue, inasmuch as there was an appeal under the Acts for an unfortunate woman from the examining surgeon to a justice of the peace, and here they would be the same person?

renewed his assurance that inquiry would be instituted. In any event some communications must pass before coming to any decision.

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether the troopship "Nemesis," which conveyed a portion of the 7th Hussars to the Cape, was inspected and reported favourably upon by an official acting under the orders of the Admiralty before she was chartered by the Government for the conveyance of troops?

Sir, the information which the noble Viscount asks I gave to the House of Commons in answer to a Question of the 9th of May, and I felt bound then to give it, accompanied by an explanation of some length, because it concerned the reputation of the Transport Department, a Department which has never deserved better of the country than during the operations connected with the recent disturbances in South Africa. I have got a short Report here which I have had prepared for the noble Viscount, and which I will give him privately; but it contains nothing which I have not stated publicly in the House, except that the Nemesis has made her return voyage in such a satisfactory time that there is reason to believe that her behaviour en the way out was mainly due to the bad weather which she encountered. If the noble Viscount wishes, I will read the Report now; but the House is already in possession of the information which it contains.

said, that in consequence of this answer he would, on a future day, ask whether it had come to the knowledge of the Admiralty that the troopship Nemesis broke down between this country and the Cape on several occasions, that her boilers were in an unsafe condition, that she ran short of provisions, and that the privations of those on board were so great that the troops had ultimately to be transferred to the Calabria to finish the voyage?

asked the Postmaster General, Whether his attention has been called to the fact that none of the Scottish Banks have seen their way to comply with the conditions required, in order to enable them to cash postal orders for their customers; and, whether, as there are no banks available through which crossed postal orders can be cashed, local post offices have been authorized to cash all such orders, whether crossed or not; and, if not, how payment of postal orders crossed generally, or to a particular bank, can be obtained in Scotland?

in reply, said, that on the 29th of April last, certain arrangements were announced with the view of obviating, as far as possible, the inconvenience with reference to the cashing of postal orders. He was glad to say that these arrangements had been so much approved of by the bankers generally, that a great number immediately adopted them. The others were adopting them every day, and he believed that, with a single exception, they had been adopted by the Scottish banks; and, therefore, he hoped the inconvenience to which the hon. Member referred no longer existed.

asked the Postmaster General, If he will consider whether it is possible to allow telegraph extensions to be made in rural districts under guarantee on easier terms than those which at present prevail, and which require not only the payment of working expenses and interest on outlay, but also the repayment during the period of the guarantee of the capital sum expended?

in reply, said, that telegraphs were always extended when it was reported that the extension was likely to pay. In other cases, where a report was made to the contrary, the extension was allowed under a guarantee. He had considered whether anything could be done to reduce the amount of the guarantee, and he had already submitted to the Treasury some proposals which, if adopted, would reduce the guarantee. In answer to a Question by Mr. HEALY,

said, that the guarantee was given by any respectable inhabitants of the district.

asked the Vice President of the Council, Whether it is true that an importation of cattle from Cyprus by a Member of this House has been prohibited by the Privy Council; and, if so, for what reason?

Sir, it is true that an application to land some goats, not cattle, from Cyprus has been refused by the Privy Council. There has been a very bad outbreak of cattle plague at Cyprus, which has destroyed large numbers of animals in the island, and which was suppressed with great difficulty. Moreover, by the General Order of Council of December 15, 1879, the landing of animals from the dominions of the Sultan was strictly prohibited, as a precaution against rinderpest; and as Cyprus is included in the dominions of the Sultan, we could not admit the animals in question to quarantine. On the grounds, therefore, of illegality and of risk, we felt bound to refuse any relaxation of the Order.

asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is the case that in the regular Army, and also in the Navy, officers hold the appointment of A.D.C. to the Queen for limited periods, but that in the Militia and Yeomanry these appointments are held for life; and, if so, whether he would consider the advisability of limiting the appointments in these services to a period of five years?

Sir, in reply to the hon. and gallant Gentleman, I have to inform him that aides-de-camp to the Queen in the Army and Navy do not hold their appointments for fixed periods of five years, but until promotion to generals' or flag rank, and that these appointments are salaried. In the Auxiliary Forces there is no rank above that of colonel, and, consequently, the appointments continue for life, and they are purely honorary. I will consider the suggestion which he has made; but in no case could it, if adopted, apply to present aides-de-camp.

asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether he will consider the propriety of making an allowance to Militia Regiments for their bands, as in the Line Regiments?

Sir, there is no intention to alter the present system as to Militia bands. The bandsmen are paid as Militiamen. I may add that fife and drum bands are maintained throughout the year as part of the permanent Staff.

asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether Her Majesty's Government, before concluding peace with the Boers, took any, and, if so, what, steps to ascertain from the Local Government in the Transvaal what the conduct of the Boers was in the outlying districts, and the true facts of the case; whether Sir Owen Lanyon was consulted as to the advisability of making peace, and generally as to the proposed terms, either before or during the progress of the negotiations; whether Sir Owen Lanyon has already been relieved of his functions; whether any Despatches have passed between Sir Owen Lanyon and Her Majesty's Government; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will, prior to the Debate on the affairs in the Transvaal, place them in their entirety upon the Table of the House?

Sir, when the hon. Member put down the first part of his Question, I think it had escaped his recollection that from nearly the commencement of the outbreak until tins conclusion of peace communications between Her Majesty's Government and the Local Government of the Transvaal were interrupted by armed force. He must also have forgotten that the Local Government of the Transvaal was during the war shut up in Pretoria, and quite unable to obtain authentic information about the "conduct of the Boers in outlying districts, or the true facts of the case." As to the second part, I have to say that Sir Owen Lanyon was not, and in the nature of things could not have been, consulted. As to the third part, I mentioned some time ago that Sir Owen Lanyon had received leave of absence. He is now on his way to Europe, but was, when we last heard of him, in Newcastle, ready to reply to any questions the Commissioners might wish to put. As to the fourth and fifth parts, I have to say that we have given most of Sir Owen Lanyon's despatches, and will consider if there are any others which we can give before the debate comes on.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If his attention has been called to three sentences reported in the "Times" of the 27th instant, the first being the case of a man named Hunt, who was convicted of manslaughter for having, while intoxicated, killed his wife, and, having been told by the Chief Justice "that human life was a precious thing," was sentenced to six weeks' hard labour; the second being the case of a man named Lewis, who, being sober, killed a young woman with whom he lived, and was sentenced by the same judge to five years' penal servitude; the third being the case of a man named Banks, who, for stealing some India rubber cuttings, was sentenced by the Common Serjeant to twelve months' hard labour; and, if he will take into his consideration the inequality of these sentences?

Sir, the Question of the hon. Member seems to be founded on the idea that I am responsible for sentences. That responsibility is placed very wisely in the Judicial, and not in the Executive Department. The power of the Executive Department to interfere with sentences is very limited indeed. If a case is brought before time Secretary of State, and there is any good ground for reducing a sentence, that, after consultation with the Judge, is occasionally done. But the hon. Member suggests that I should review three sentences and bring them to a comparative equality. That I cannot do. In seine cases the sentences may be too light; but I have no power to aggravate a sentence. I ought to mention that I had an opportunity of conversing with the Lord Chief Justice on this subject yesterday; and he stated to me that the reason why, in one of these cases, the sentence might appear too light was that, in his opinion, the thing was as nearly as possible an accident, and he almost doubted whether there should be a conviction. The jury recommended the prisoner to mercy, and he thought it right to pass a light sentence.

gave Notice that on going into Committee of Supply he would move the following Resolution:—

"That the administration of the law in cases of outrage upon the person has long been a reproach to our Criminal Courts. That outrages and assaults of the most brutal character, especially upon married women, even when they cause a cruel death, are commonly punished less severely than small offences against property. That the admission of the crime of drunkenness as an extenuation of other crimes is immoral, and acts as an incentive to persons about to commit outrages to wilfully deprive themselves of the guidance of reason."

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether petty session clerks in Ireland are entitled to charge a fee of 1s. 6d. for each form required for liberty to have arms under the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Act?

Sir, arms licences are to be granted by the licensing officers whom the Lord Lieutenant has appointed for the purpose, and petty sessions clerks have nothing to do with the granting of them.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, When the Index and Appendix to the evidence of the Royal Agricultural Commission, as well as the Assistant Commissioner's Reports, which were sent to the Home Office on the 27th April last, will be laid upon the Table of the House.

Sir, the Papers were laid upon the Table on the 3rd of May, and the Queen's Printers report that they ought to be ready for distribution in about a week's time.

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether it is true, as stated in the leading journal of Tuesday, that the Irish Executive have represented to the Cabinet the necessity of adopting measures for the suppression of the Land League?

said, that before the Question was answered, he wished to ask the right hon. Gentleman, whether, considering the serious state of affairs at the present time in Ireland, Her Majesty's Government intend to retain in the service of the Crown, at salaries paid for out of the taxes of the country, officials holding office under the Land League?

asked, whether Her Majesty's Government were considering measures for the suppression of that other Land League known as the House of Lords?

inquired, whether there was any truth in the report that at a Sheriff's sale at Scariff, in the county of Clare, four policemen were shot dead with revolvers, and two others seriously wounded?

Sir, with regard to the Question of the hon. Member for Mid Lincolnshire (Mr. Chaplin), and without any intention of pronouncing any censure upon him, he will allow me to remind him that the responsibility of the Executive Government is undivided, and when he asks me whether the Executive Government of Ireland recommended something to be done to which the Executive Government in England objected, he is simply asking a Question as to the state of opinion within the Government, and, as a general rule, such a Question ought not to be answered. At the same time, the Question having been put, at which I must say I am not surprised, I feel that it would be inconvenient to decline to answer it, and I would therefore say that there is no foundation for the statement to which the hon. Gentleman refers. With respect to the Question of the hon. Member for Guildford (Mr. Onslow), the matter is one which only came under my notice a few moments before he put it. It involves a point which requires serious consideration, and as to which I could not promise any information to the hon. Member in the absence of my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary for Ireland. In reference to the Question with respect to statements in the newspapers this morning, I was led by those statements to send a telegram to the Irish Office in Dublin for information, and I will read to the House the precise terms of a telegram I received in reply, which will tend, I think, to relieve a good deal of public anxiety, which, undoubtedly, the Government for the moment shared with them. The telegram is as follows:—

"The County Inspector at Ennis telegraphs this morning as follows:—'Attended yesterday to protect procses-servers serving writs on Colonel O'Callaghan's tenants. Police fired on by people; shots exchanged; no one shot on either side.'"

[Laughter.] He did not know whether that laugh showed satisfaction or not.

We laughed in common with the Benches opposite.

(continuing to read the telegram)—

"Effected service in spite of opposition. County Inspector and a party of 20 men fired at from a plantation at Fortaunbeg at 9.30 p.m., when returning to Ennis. One horse shot under police car; no policeman hit. The County inspector of Donegal telegraphs that on Tuesday last he proceeded in gunboat to Arranmore Island with police force, landed, and served certain summonses. They met with no opposition whatever. Report in this morning's papers is, therefore, untrue.' "

That is all the information we have received. With respect to a Question of the hon. Member for Galway Town (Mr. T. P. O'Connor), making inquiry of me as to certain evictions on Lord Kenmare's estate at Kenmare, I have to say that I have made inquiry on the subject of the Lord Chamberlain, and my noble Friend, feeling it was not right that attention should be called in this House to any proceedings of his which might be connected with the present difficulties in Ireland without his making known the facts of the case, I have, therefore, received the following information from the noble Lord:—Out of more than 1,000 tenants on his estate at Kenmare there have been five recent evictions. Of the tenants evicted, two defended the actions of ejectment brought against them, and Lord Kenmare obtained verdicts against them from Dublin juries in the month of February last. One of the remaining cases was that of a woman and her children, who appealed to Lord Kenmare to get rid of the stepfather, who married the woman, on account—I will not go into the particulars—of his personal misconduct rendering him untrustworthy. Another was the case of a woman who held a house in the town at a nominal rent of £5, and who was five years in arrears, and would pay nothing. I gather from the evidence that she was afraid to pay; but she did not pay anything, and Lord Kenmare paid the expenses of her passage to America. The fifth case was that of tenant who was a-year and a half in arrear of rent, and who was re-admitted as caretaker. But the essential feature with regard to the whole five cases is this—that in the full conviction and knowledge of my noble Friend, in every one of them the tenant was able, and thoroughly able, to pay. The cases illustrate the enormous mischief done, and the enormous responsibility incurred, by those who advise the tenants in Ireland who are able to pay their rents not to pay them.

inquired of the Secretary of State for War, whether he was in a position to contradict the statements made in some of the papers as to the Cavalry charge said to have taken place in Clonmel?

Sir, all I can say with reference to the case referred to by my noble Friend, and as to other cases, is that the statements which have appeared are very much exaggerated indeed. If my noble Friend will be good enough to repeat his Question after the Recess, I shall be in a position to afford the House full information as to all the circumstances.

gave Notice that after the Recess he would ask the Secretary of Slate for War, whether the statement as to the late Cavalry charge at Clonmel, which appeared in the "Freeman's Journal" of yesterday, was true—to the effect that the Cavalry charged a crowd consisting of about two dozen men and women and children who were standing on the footpath listening to the advice of the Rev. Mr. Byrne, and slashed their swords about in a fearful manner?

said, he would answer the Question on Friday week.

asked the Prime Minister, whether he had examined into the accuracy of the statement with respect to the Kenmare estate with which he had just favoured the House?

in reply, said, that he had made no examination of the accuracy of the statement, and should make none. He had absolute and implicit confidence in Lord Kenmare's honour, and had received his statement with the same.

inquired, whether it was not the fact that Lord Kenmare obtained his writs out of the Superior Courts in Dublin for the purpose of keeping up costs on the tenants?

What I said was that Lord Kenmare had obtained verdicts from Dublin juries in actions brought in the Courts of that City.

asked the Prime Minister, Whether he would to-morrow make some statement in reference to the Transvaal, having formally stated that as soon as the guns taken at Potchefstroom were restored facilities would be given for the bringing on of the debate in reference to the Transvaal?

Sir, I never made any statement of the kind. What I said was that until the communications as to what had taken place were concluded no useful discussion could take place. Perhaps, however, it may be desirable that I should say a word as to the course of Public Business. We have got, as the House is aware, into a situation of competition between two great questions—the Irish Land Bill, which is before us especially on this occasion, and Supply, which has fallen into a backward state, and as to which justifiable anxiety prevails. I was extremely anxious that the debate on the second reading of the Land Bill should take place immediately after the Easter Recess. I do not know that we gained a great deal by commencing it on that day. I am given to understand that it would be a considerable convenience to Irish Members that Supply should be taken at the two Sittings next week, instead of the Land Bill; and, considering that we can hardly expect to dispose of the Committee on the Land Bill before the House would insist on our taking Supply, I think we should act wisely if we took Supply on Thursday and Friday next week, and then gave our constant attention to the Land Bill. Unless I have reason to suppose that I am mistaken in thinking that it meets with general acceptance, we shall consider that that is the arrangement. To-morrow, at 2 clock, we shall be able to see positively whether that is agreeable to the wish of the House generally.

asked the Vice President of the Council, Whether it is true that a cargo of nearly three hundred oxen from Boston have been landed at Glasgow affected with foot-and-mouth disease; and, whether effectual steps have been taken to prevent the spread of the disease so imported?

in reply, said, he regretted to inform the noble Viscount that yesterday he had received information that a cargo of cattle corresponding very much to the description given in the noble Viscount's Question had been landed in Glasgow in a very diseased state, and that the Department had issued instructions for the isolation and slaughter of the cattle, and for the disinfection of all the person who had had any access to them. It was hoped that by those measures they would succeed in preventing the spread of any infection.

I beg to ask the Lord Advocate a Question of which I have given him private Notice—namely,Whether, at an early day, we may hope that the Government will introduce a Bill dealing with the Laws of Entail and Settlement in Scotland?

Sir, I can inform my hon. Friend that the question has not been overlooked by the Government. Within the last few days, I have been informed that there is a general wish on both sides of the House, amongst the Representatives of the Scotch constituencies, that some attempt should be made to deal with certain parts of this question, and in the hope that it may meet with favourable consideration I propose to bring in a Bill for that purpose.

asked the Prime Minister, Whether the Government will be able to keep their promise, that there shall be an Evening Sitting to-morrow for resuming the discussion on the hon. Member for Longford's (Mr. Justin M'Carthy's) Motion as to the conduct of the Irish Executive in this matter; and, whether they will also have the advantage of the presence of the Chief Secretary for Ireland during the debate?

asked, whether any arrangements had been made by the Government to take the adjourned debate at 2 o'clock?

in reply, said, it had been agreed upon that the discussion in question should be taken at the Evening Sitting at 9 o'clock. The case for the Government with regard to the Motion had already been stated, His right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary would not be able to be in his place to- morrow; but he had already spoken in the debate.

asked, whether Supply would stand first for the Evening Sitting?

said, Supply must stand first, according to the Rules.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether it is true that a proclamation has been issued this day, declaring a part of this county under martial law so far as to prevent the people from assembling in the district; and, if so, whether he will state why martial law has been proclaimed without the authority of the House?

in reply, said, he had received no information on the subject.

asked the Secretary of State for War, On what day, or about what day, he proposes to take the discussion on this scheme?

in reply, said, he had stated the other night that taking Vote 10 on that occasion would not interfere with the promise he had given to fix the earliest day possible after the details of the plan of re-organization, which would be contained in the second Memorandum, had been laid on the Table of the House. That second Memoran- dum was now nearly completed, as also was the draft Warrant; but they had to receive the approval of the Treasury. He hoped in the last week of the month to be able to get a day for the discussion of the whole matter, after he had laid the Papers on the Table. An hon. MEMBER asked the right hon. Gentleman, whether it is the intention of the Government to make the new scheme come into force on the 1st of July?

in reply, said, that it was, and that he had said so several times.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, If his attention has been called to the following extract from the Recollections of Mr. F. Thorp Porter, who had twenty years' experience as a Dublin police magistrate:—

"I may mention here that the Police Laws of the Irish Metropolitan district are, to the highest degree, complex, voluminous, involved, and puzzling. In the English Metropolitan district two statutes regulate, one the Police Force and the other the Police Courts. In Dublin we have a statute passed in 1808, another in 1824 a third in 1836, a fourth in 1837, a fifth in 1838, a sixth in 1839, a seventh in 1842, and an Act in relation to Public Carriages, which may be also termed a Police statute, in 1848. They contain three hundred and sixty-six sections, and may be designated as disgraceful to the several Executive Governments which have left them unconsolidated and uncodified;'

and, if he will endeavour to bring in a Bill at the earliest possible opportunity, to consolidate and simplify those statutes?

Sir, I have not had an opportunity of reading Mr. Porter's book, which, however, I am told is interesting and amusing. I am not aware that any difficulty is experienced in administering the police laws in the Dublin Metropolis, and, therefore, do not at present propose to lay before Parliament any Bill on the subject.

asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether the charge for expenses of extra police drafted into the county of Londonderry for the county election of 1880 has not been demanded of the Corporation of the City of Derry; whether such an assessment of the expense connected with the county on the city (which is a distinct constituency of itself) is in accordance with the law; and, whether the charge of any portion of such expenses on the respective constituencies is directly authorised by law or rests merely on usage?

Sir, the expenses of extra police drafted into the county of Londonderry for the county election of 1880 have been duly charged on the county, and have not been demanded from the corporation of the city. The charge is made without any reference to constituencies, and is in accordance with law.

thought that, from some of the phrases used by the right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister, this Amendment was absolutely necessary. The Bill, as it stood, provided that the tenant for the time being of every tenancy to which the Act applied must sell his tenancy for the best price that could be got for the same; and within that provision they were bound to include the Interpretation Clause, from which it appeared that "tenancy" meant the interest on the holding of a tenant and his successors in title during the continuance of a tenancy; and a "tenant" meant a person occupying land under a contract of tenancy, and included the successors in title to a tenant. If they were to ask for the limit of the interest which the tenant was to possess within the contract, express or implied, which existed between the landlord and the tenant, Her Majesty's Ministers had been much misunderstood if they had been credited with the desire to let the interest of the tenant be only that which was contemplated by the contract between him and his landlord. If the only interest the tenant was to have was that which the law gave him—namely, the right of assigning the unexpired term of the tenancy, there could be no difficulty in adopting his right hon. Friend's (Sir R. Assheton Cross's) Amendment. But if, on the other hand, there was something more to be placed in the power of the tenant—something upon the mere fact of occupancy—one searched through the Bill in vain in order to ascertain the nature and extent of the new thing which the tenant was to sell. The Prime Minister, in discussing the Bill, used two remarkable phrases. He said the tenant's interest was an interest made up of what the law gave him; and he also used that extraordinary phrase, "or should give him." [Mr. GLADSTONE: "Gives," or "shall give."] He accepted what the right hon. Gentleman said; but if what was meant was what the law gave the tenant by that Bill, what was the interest of the tenant? Was it to be measured by time or value? Were there any circumstances that went to show that the interest had been created by the tenant? In his concluding words, the right hon. Gentleman said that it was a right which meant nothing more than the occupancy of the tenant, together with such incidents as the Legislature might be pleased to attach to it. They were enacting now that the tenant might sell that thing whatever it was; and, apart from the phrase to which he had referred, he looked in vain through the Bill to find anything limiting the power to sell beyond phrases which meant nothing. It was said that the interest was to be also created by the contract. Be it so; but here must be something beyond the contract. He thought he had some right to appeal to his hon. and learned Friend the Solicitor General for Ireland (Mr. W. M. Johnson), because he had observed in his speech that when it was sought to draw him into a definition of what the interest was which the tenant possessed, he said that he declined to be inveigled into a verbal discussion as to what the thing was. Now, he (Sir Hardinge Giffard) did not think that that was altogether a satisfactory reply, because the matter was not a mere question of words, but what was the principle underlying what the Government thought proper to introduce into the Bill. What was it that was to be sold? As lawyers they knew what the interest was. They knew it was the unexpired term of the tenant's lease whatever it might be; but in this case there was no limit to the thing that was to be sold. If Her Majesty's Government meant to limit the tenant's interest to that which the law gave him by the Bill, no alteration in the law would be necessary. Then, what was it, and in what part of the Bill was he to find the definition? It must be remembered that this was an ambiguity which had been left in the Bill—he did not say intentionally, but of which hon. Members opposite had availed themselves abundantly. In the course of these discussions, a touching picture had been drawn of cases in which the tenant had, by his own exertions, turned useless bogs into arable land, and had applied his capital to arrangements which had given to the land its present value. That was a very striking case; but this power to sell was universal and indiscriminate, and there was no part of the Bill which described the cases in which either of these indications existed. It was given universally, whatever the contract, or however much it might actually negative the existence of any such right of disposition. The Bill, and the particular clause they were passing, gave that right universally, whatever the tenant's right might be, although the tenant might not have added one farthing to the value of that which he held. He was not at present arguing whether it was right or wrong that the tenant should have that interest. He assumed for the present that it was proper that he should have such an interest, and that he should, by statute, be permitted to deal with it in that way; but he thought it should be plainly set forth what it was, and what were its limits. He did not know what the Land Commission might say should be given to the tenant, or what the law said ought to attach to the tenant. He was not arguing whether it was right or wrong to give him this interest; but it ought to be shown within the four corners of the Bill what the circumstances were that were adverted to. At present, upon the face of the Bill that was altogether uncertain; and, therefore, some Amendment of this kind was necessary. This ambiguity affected the whole Bill. It was shown in the 1st clause, and the moment they came to Clause 7 they would be in exactly the same difficulty, because there they were to have regard to the interest of the tenant. What did that mean? Was it that he was to be a tenant from year to year, or that he was made a tenant for seven or 15 years? Where in the four corners of the Bill was there any definition to show the Committee that if they passed the 1st clause in the form in which it stood it would not be said—"You have now admitted whatever the tenancy may be, whatever the circumstances of it may be, you have enacted by that 1st clause that any tenant, under any tenancy, may be able to sell that thing, and yet you have not defined what that thing is in the Bill?" On a former occasion, in reference to the Bill introduced by the late Mr. Butt, it was pointed out that what was disrespectfully described as "legal jargon" ran throughout the measure, about the profits of the soil making up that which was the fee simple of the land; and if by any circuituous language they gave to the tenant the right of perpetual succession, what they did would have the effect of making the landlord a mere rent-charger. He contended that they were doing precisely the same thing now. They were concealing, in a multitude of words, no one of which was capable of being expounded, not what the legal interest was, but some interest or another, which somebody hereafter was to acquire, and they were declaring that that was the interest which the tenant might dispose of and sell. He thought they had a right to know, before they went any further, whether it was intended by the Government to accept his right hon. Friend's Amendment, or some other Amendment, which should define and make clear that which was intended.

said, that what rights were given to the tenants of Ireland under the Bill was a matter which would have to be discussed upon the subsequent clauses of the Bill. The only question now was whether or not the tenant was to be allowed to sell or part with whatever interest he might have. The clause gave no interest whatever to the tenant which he had not got already. It simply gave him the right to sell his interest in his tenancy. If he was a tenant at will he would have no interest to sell, because the landlord might determine his will at any moment; but if he was a tenant from year to year, he would have his unexpired term to sell increased in value by the right to compensation for disturbance, to which he was entitled under the Land Act of 1870. If he was a leaseholder, he would have still more to sell. Even as the law now stood, if a tenant from year to year, he would have a right to sell his title to the improvements he had effected. All that was proposed by this clause was that he should have a right to sell whatever interest he had. It was said that that meant something besides a legal interest. Now, he (Mr. Morgan Lloyd) contended that it meant nothing more than a legal interest—whatever interest the tenant had must be a legal interest. By the words of the clause the tenant's interest was a legal interest; and, therefore, what was proposed to be done now was simply to give the tenant a right to part with whatever he now had, or what might be given to him by the Bill. The discussion as to what interest the tenant had or might have was premature, and would come before the Committee much more conveniently on the subsequent clauses of the Bill.

said, they all agreed with what the hon. and learned Gentleman (Mr. Morgan Lloyd) had just said, that the tenant should have a right to sell his interest. But what the Amendment of his right hon. Friend (Sir R. Assheton Cross) intended to do was to define exactly what the interest of the tenant was, so that there should not be any trouble in interpreting what the House intended to give. In one part of the speech of the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Gladstone), in criticizing the words of the Amendment, he quite agreed. It seemed to him that the words as they stood would deprive the tenant of the opportunity of selling his own improvements, unless there was some contract between him and his landlord. He (Mr. Ritchie) was satisfied that that could not be the intention of his right hon. Friend (Sir R. Assheton Cross), because they were all agreed—even those who were most bitterly opposed to the Bill as it stood—that the tenant ought to be able, at least, to sell his own improvements; and he would suggest to his right hon. Friend that it would be as well to leave out the words from the word "under" to "improvements," in his Amendment. The right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister seemed to find great difficulty in defining what it was the tenant was to have the right to sell. Over and over again the Government had been pressed to say what they meant by certain clauses of the Bill, and there had always been a delightful vagueness in their explanations. He did not know whether it was that the Government themselves did not understand what the result of many of the provisions of the Bill would be; but he (Mr. Ritchie) thought it was desirable that the question should be fought out now, rather than be fought out in a Court. It was essential that they should lay down for the guidance of the Court, in fixing a fair rent, what it was that the tenant's interest consisted of. He had no hesitation in saying that he had always been in favour of conferring upon the tenantry of Ireland a moderate amount of tenant right. He thought the evidence given before the Commissioners pointed clearly in that direction; but he by no means considered that the method provided in the Bill was the right and proper method. On the contrary, he was convinced that it would impose a considerable amount of hardship upon the landlords of Ireland, and that it was desirable and necessary to modify it. They must take care, in removing the injustice under which certain tenants of Ireland certainly suffered, that they did not inflict a much greater grievance upon the whole body of landlords. If they gave power to the tenant to sell the unrestricted tenant right, one of two things must occur. Either part of it must come out of the landlord's pocket in the shape of a reduction of rent, or they would be giving something to the present tenant at the expense of the future tenant, and would be thereby laying up for the future tenant a mass of injustice far greater than that which they proposed to remove. The only way to remedy this evil was to insert in the Bill some provision for securing to the incoming tenant the value of the money he paid; and if they did that, neither the landlord nor the incoming tenant would be aggrieved. The Amendment specified that the tenant would be entitled to sell the interest he had in unexhausted improvements, and the value of his unexpired term of the 15 years in which the rent could not be raised. His right hon. Friend the Prime Minister told them there was another interest beyond these, and that was the right of continued occupancy. He agreed with the right hon. Gentleman that the right of continued occupancy was something of value which they were conferring upon the tenant; but he disagreed with the right hon. Gentleman that that was something which the tenant ought to have the right to sell. He assumed that it was intended by the Bill to confer that right of uninterrupted occupancy not only on the present tenants, but on the tenants of Ireland present and future; but the result of allowing the present tenants to sell would be to take away from the future tenants the boon they were conferring by the Bill. It would be no boon at all if, while conferring it, on the one hand, upon the present tenant, they declared that it should be paid for by the future tenant. They did not propose that the present tenant should pay anything to the landlord for this right of continued occupancy; but they proposed that the man who succeeded him should pay for it, although the present tenant paid nothing. Now, it seemed to him that, while appearing to confer on the whole of the tenants of Ireland for the future the right of continued occupancy, they were taking away the value of the gift by saying to the incoming tenant—"You shall pay for it when you come into possession of the holding." The right hon. Gentleman, in support of his position, used one argument which told conclusively against the Bill. Speaking of the payment the incoming tenant was to make to the outgoing tenant, the right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister said, with vigour and energy—"Why is it hard upon the incoming tenant that he should pay for a thing that which he is willing to pay for it?" A more conclusive argument against the principle of the Bill could not have been adduced. The necessity for the Bill was based upon the fact that the landlords were receiving, and the tenants paying, a higher rent than the one ought to receive and the other to pay; that there was such a land hunger, and such a desire to possess land and enter upon a farm, that the tenant was willing to pay any rent which might be demanded. Therefore the right hon. Gentleman was unwilling to allow freedom of contract to exist between the landlord and tenant. He would not allow the landlord to take the rent which the tenant was willing to pay; but the moment he came to deal with a contract between tenant and tenant, he threw all this argument over, and said—"The proper price for a tenant to pay and for a tenant to receive is what the outgoing tenant can get and the incoming tenant is willing to pay." Now, he (Mr. Ritchie) should like to know what difference there was in the two positions, so far as the tenant was concerned, whether the tenant paid a high rent to the landlord, or a low rent and a high premium to the outgoing tenant? The only difference was that the money, instead of going into the landlord's pocket in the shape of rent, went into that of the outgoing tenant in the shape of premium, and the incoming tenant paid rent to the owner as interest for the money he borrowed to pay the premium; and the position of the tenant was really worse, owing to the exorbitant interest he had to pay to the usurer. He held that if they were to allow free contract to exist the necessity for this Bill was done away with altogether. If the tenant was to be a free party to the contract, as between tenant and tenant, then there was no earthly reason why they should destroy the freedom of contract between him and his landlord. There was another argument used by the right hon. Gentleman in support of the position he took up, and that was the comparison which he made with reference to Ulster. They had heard, over and over again, comparisons made between the condition of Ulster and other parts of Ireland; but in Ulster tenant right had been bought and sold for generations. There was no question of conferring something new on the tenant, but something which had been bought and sold for a long series of years; therefore, there was no analogy between the two cases. It must be borne in mind, also, that the habits of the people were different from those in other parts of Ireland, and that there were manufacturing and other interests in Ulster which existed in no other part of Ireland. But even in Ulster tenant right was not unrestricted, as was proposed by this Bill. The proposal in the Bill was that the sale of tenant right between tenant and tenant should be unrestricted. ["No, no!"] Then, all he had to say was that that was a feature of the Bill he had failed to understand. He wished to point out that in Ulster the tenant right had been by no means unrestricted. If this Bill did what it professed to do, two things were necessary. Some definition must be laid down as to what it was the tenant had to sell, and in that definition the question of quiet possession should be entirely excluded, or else they were conferring an immense boon on the present tenantry, but no boon on the future tenantry of Ireland. He trusted, if the right hon. Gentleman would not accept the proposal which had been made by his right hon. Friend (Sir R. Assheton Cross), that he would indicate some means by which the tenant's interest might be defined, and that he would be prepared to support the proposal that it should not be free sale in the open market; but that there should be some kind of tribunal to settle the price between the outgoing tenant and the incoming tenant, so that the incoming tenant should not lose a great part of the benefit intended to be conferred on him by the Bill.

I never said a single word in favour of an absolutely unrestricted tenant right; but we shall come to that point by-and-bye, and then it will be seen whether the Government are in favour of unrestricted tenant right or not. The sole question now has reference to the propriety of attempting to define tenant right.

said, there could be no doubt whatever that the effect of the Act of 1870, as far as the South of Ireland was concerned, was to create a tenant right, or some sort of right of occupancy. He challenged contradiction on that point, and he contended that a great majority of the tenants in Cork and Kerry were now in possession of a right which some people valued at seven years' purchase, and some at 10 years. They were in possession of a certain right totally irrespective of improvements, and the question was whether Parliament was going to take away that right, or to allow the tenant to sell it. Judge Longfield, who was originally an opponent of tenant right, starting from the Act of 1870, and viewing the matter in the light of coming legislation after an experience of 10 years of the working of the Act of 1870, said that that Act did give to every tenant a certain qualified right of occupation and security to enjoy it at a fair rent. Judge Longfield went on to say that, having given that right, the right of free sale followed as a matter of course. The learned Judge argued, and, in his opinion, most conclusively, that of all the "three F's" the right of free sale was the one that injured the landlord least and conferred the greatest benefit upon the tenants generally. How was the right worked in Ulster? He would quote the evidence of Mr. Vernon, one of the largest land agents in Ireland. He was asked by Sir John Leslie—

"Are not these large sums so much capital subtracted from what the tenant ought to have in order to manage the farm properly?"

The answer was—

"Perhaps it is; but look at your own county of Monaghan. A man pays the fee simple of the land for the right of occupation, and still he will thrive."

Sir John Leslie asked no further questions. The late Major D'Alton was examined in reference to land belonging to Lord Headfort in one county where the tenant right was worth 18 years' purchase, and land in another county where there was no tenant right allowed, the tenants being of the same class in each county. He was asked which tenants were the most prosperous, and his reply was—

"The tenants of the county of Cavan, who paid 18 years' purchase for tenant right, are more prosperous than those who have paid nothing."

On being asked to account for it, he said that he could account for it in no other way than that there existed a sense of quasi-ownership—in other words, a security similar to that proposed to be created by the present Bill.

thought it might not be inconvenient at that point to say a few words with reference to an Amendment standing in his name. He ventured to think that the word "tenancy," as it was used in line 8, could scarcely stand with the definition of the term "tenancy" in Clause 44. The words in line 8 of Clause 1 were "may sell his tenancy;" but the definition of the term in Clause 44 was—

" 'Tenancy' means the interest in a holding of a tenant and his successors in title during the continuance of a tenancy."

He (Mr. Staveley Hill) said that definition could not apply generally to the term "tenancy," as used throughout the Bill; indeed, the Government had already altered it in the first line of the present clause by substituting for the word "tenancy" the word "holding." Now, if the right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister would look at that part of the 3rd clause where the word "tenancy" occurred, he would find the words "beginning of such tenancy." The word "tenancy" could scarcely be used there, because it was the beginning of his occupancy that was really referred to. Again, at the end of the 4th clause, page 5, line 21, the word "tenancy" was also used in a sense inconsistent with the definition contained in Clause 44. It was clear that the words "provided that the rent of any tenancy" could not mean the rent of the "interest," but the rent of the occupancy; and, therefore, the word "tenancy" in this instance, as also in Clause 3, could not stand with the definition as given in Clause 44. It would be better to stick to the meaning of "tenancy" as Johnson defined it, "the temporary possession of that which belongs to another," and not to give it a new sense as a vox artis. It was obvious that the right hon. Gentleman and himself, upon the wording of the Bill, differed as to what it was that might be sold; and, although he agreed with his hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaumaris (Mr. Morgan Lloyd) that this was not the proper part of the Bill in which the Committee should say what it was the tenant had to sell, and he, therefore, could not support the Amendment now before the Committee, as he thought that no words should come in here which would at all prejudge the great questions which they would leave to decide in Clause 7, still he thought that they might with propriety indicate that he might sell his improvements and any right he had gained. On the other hand, he did not think the Committee ought to preclude a future definition by adopting the words "sell his tenancy;" and, therefore, he suggested that it would be better to substitute for them the words "may sell any interest he has in his tenancy."

said, the matter involved in the Amendment before the Committee appeared to him to lie in a nut-shell. The question was whether the tenant had the right of free sale of whatever interest he had in his holding, and the first test was to ascertain what was his interest in the holding. By the 1st section of the Land Act of 1870 it was provided that the tenant should have the interest known as the Ulster tenant right, custom, or usage subject to certain limitations. It was clear from the observations which had fallen from the hon. Member for the Tower Hamlets (Mr. Ritchie) that the object of some of the Amendments which had been placed on the Paper by hon. Gentlemen opposite was to introduce into this clause a wording which would enable landlords hereafter to place some restrictions upon what the tenant had to sell. He pointed out to the Committee that it had been the practice on some estates to institute office rules, many of which were not in existence before the Act of 1870, and that these had gone on increasing in stringency until the benefit conferred by the Act had been in many cases cut away altogether. Now, if there was one thing more than another upon which the Irish people had set their hearts, it was the total abolition of office rules, and every unreasonable and local restriction upon the right of free sale. It was the power of selling what was known as the Ulster tenant right which made the tenant right so valuable, and had contributed so much to the prosperity of the Province of Ulster, and it was the want of that which made it indispensable in the Act of 1870 to give the tenant the benefit of the provisions contained in the 3rd clause—that was to say, the right to compensation in case of disturbance. The Compensation Clause of the Act of 1870 was, therefore, the equivalent given to the other Provinces for the Ulster tenant right. And if the tenants in the Province of Ulster had profited under the right of free sale, surely the tenants in the other Provinces were entitled to sell the right given to them by the Act of 1870. If the tenants of Ulster had the right of free sale of their holdings, why, he asked, should the tenants of the rest of Ireland be placed in a worse position under the present Bill by taking away from them the right of free sale in respect of the equivalent given to them by the Act of 1870? He contended that no such power ought to be given to the landlord. The effect of this Bill would be the taking away of those dishonest and improper restrictions which landlords had put upon tenants in the way of cutting down their tenant right; and, therefore, it appeared to him that the wording of the clause was wholly unobjectionable. There was no tenant in Ireland who had not some kind of interest to sell, and the clause simply implied that it might be sold. He thought the only proper way of dealing with this matter in order to give the tenant that free right which he was so anxiously looking for, and in order to take from the landlord the temptation of introducing office rules and thereby causing irritation to the tenants on his estate, was to allow the explicit language of the clause to remain without alteration.

thought that some alteration of the wording of the clause was needed. That had been admitted, to a certain extent, by the right hon. and learned Attorney General for Ireland (Mr. Law), who had substituted the word "holding" for that of "tenancy;" and he (Mr. Gregory) thought the right hon. and learned Gentleman might have gone a little further in the same direction, because, after Clause 44 had defined "tenancy" to be "the interest in a holding of a tenant," it went on to say "and his successors in title." There could be no doubt that the Bill did contemplate a succession of interests in the present holding; and, therefore, if the Committee agreed to the word "tenancy" standing in the clause, they would be admitting the principle of succession, which would have to be discussed hereafter. Some qualification was therefore necessary, and he thought that necessary qualification would be best introduced by adopting the Amendment of his hon. and learned Friend the Member for West Staffordshire (Mr. Staveley Hill).

said, it appeared to him that, under the guise of an Amendment for the purpose of making clear the meaning of the Bill, the Committee were asked to agree to a restriction of that right of free sale which it was the object of the Bill to give to the tenant. For his part, he saw no necessity for giving any further definition than was contained in the Bill of that which the tenant was to sell. His answer to the question—"What is it that the tenant has to sell?" would be—"He is to sell whatever he has got." The object of the clause was not to define the interest of the tenant, but to allow him to make a free sale of his tenancy, whatever his tenancy might be. Further definition was, therefore, unnecessary. For his own part, he found no difficulty in defining that which the tenant had to sell. He would endeavour, as well as he could, to follow the right hon. Gentleman opposite (Sir R. Assheton Cross) in discussing what it was that the tenant had to sell. The right hon. Gentleman had stated, with perfect accuracy, that the tenant, before the Act of 1870, was a tenant from year to year. But it appeared to him (Mr. Davey) that when the right hon. Gentleman made that statement, he omitted a very material factor in what constituted the interest of the tenant before the passing of the Act of 1870. Because, not only was he a tenant from year to year, but he was a tenant from year to year with the reasonable expectation that he would be continued in his tenancy; and he (Mr. Davey) regarded that reasonable expectation as just as a valuable incident to the legal right to his farm. That reasonable expectation was founded on a deep-rooted tradition, and on a sentiment which pervaded the entire Irish people, which few landlords could afford to ignore, and which most landlords did, in fact, recognize. The Committee would remember the strong terms in which the Report of the Bessborough Commission spoke of that deep-rooted tradition and that sentiment which pervaded the whole Irish people, that a man in the possession of land, so long as he continued to comply with the terms of his tenancy, had a right to continue to occupy it. It was therefore necessary to look facts in the face, and admit that what the tenant had, even before the passing of the Land Act of 1870, was something more than a mere tenancy from year to year. He felt sure the experience of the hon. and learned Member for Launceston (Sir Hardinge Giffard) would confirm the statement that in cases of claims for compensation in London the resonable expectation of being continued in occupancy had been treated as ground for compensation. A great deal had been said by hon. Members opposite by way of comment on the language used by the Prime Minister in the course of the debates upon the Land Act of 1870; but it appeared to him (Mr. Davey) quite irrelevant to consider whether in the speeches of the right hon. Gentleman, especially when divorced from the context and the circumstances under which they were spoken, there might not be found some inconsistency. The statement of the right hon. Gentleman that the Land Act of 1870 did not confer any new estate or interest on the tenant, but was intended merely to protect that estate and interest which he had already, in his opinion, described exactly what was the object and effect of that Act, inasmuch as it gave a legislative recognition to that reasonable expectation on the part of the tenant of being continued in his tenancy. It also gave, as far as the compensation clauses went, a statutory protection to that interest. What the tenant had to sell, then, would be his position as tenant from year to year, coupled with his "reasonable expectation;" and when the right to sell this interest was proposed to be given to him, why should it be said—"We will give you the right to sell part of your interest, but not that part which is the most valuable?" Therefore, as he had before pointed out, the right hon. Gentleman opposite (Sir R. Assheton Cross), in moving the Amendment before the Committee, omitted to give consideration to a fact which was one of the most material elements in this discussion. He held that the neglect of that sentiment referred to in the Report of the Bessborough Commission lay at the root of all agrarian crime in Ireland. It was the fact that this tradition and sentiment existed, and that the reasonable expectation founded upon it had been disregarded, that presented to his mind the most ample justification of the legislation in which they were then engaged; and, therefore, if it became necessary to consider what it was that the tenant had to sell, it was impossible to leave out his reasonable expectation of being continued in his tenancy. The hon. Member for the Tower Hamlets (Mr. Ritchie) had argued that the Bill would take away a portion of the landlord's interest merely to give it to the future occupant; but to that he (Mr. Davey) replied, that the experience derived from the operation of the Ulster Custom showed that this was not so. The hon. Member also asked what difference did it make to the occupier whether he paid in the form of increased rent, or in the form of purchase money? It appeared to him (Mr. Davey) that the difference lay in the fact that in one case the tenant paid for something which became his own property, while, in the other, he paid an annual charge for nothing beyond the annual enjoyment. It was the payment by the incoming tenant to the outgoing tenant which gave a sense of property to the tenant, and it was the want of this which was said to lie at the root of the discontent in Ireland. It made a very great difference to a man whether he paid for something in the nature of property which he could sell, or whether he paid simply in the form of rent to the landlord. The unearned increment upon which the right hon. Gentleman the Member for South-West Lancashire had addressed the Committee was a subject of extreme interest. He (Mr. Davey) had no doubt in his own mind that the idea of the tenant's getting the whole of that increment was perfectly illusory. There could be no doubt that in the case of a tenant with a statutory term the landlord would, at the expiration of such term, be able to reap a portion of the unearned increment. The unearned increment would be divided proportionately between the landlord and the tenant, according as the tenant was an ordinary tenant or a tenant under this Act. On the whole, he regarded the definition attempted to be given in the Amendment of the right hon. Gentleman as both insufficient and inaccurate, and he was of opinion that the Committee would do well not to define exactly what the tenant might sell. The intention of the clause was that he should sell his tenancy, and better words than those could not be inserted. What the term "his tenancy" included might be a matter about which theoretical political economists would dispute; but the tenant's occupancy of the land, with all the incidents which attached to it by common law, custom, or statute, was what the tenant had to sell.

I must say, Sir, that this discussion, and not least the speech of the hon. and learned Member who has just sat down (Mr. Davey), have gone far to justify the terms of the Amendment put upon the Paper by the noble Lord the Member for North Leicestershire (Lord John Manners), in which this Bill was referred to as calculated to confuse, without settling, the relations between landlords and tenants in Ireland. In what condition those relations will ultimately be left it is difficult to conceive. I understand the point to be this—we are called upon to provide that the tenant shall be at liberty, freely, or subject to certain conditions, to sell his interest; and we want to know what that interest is. It is obvious that if you leave that uncertain you will be in great difficulty. If the tenant is only to sell the improvements which he has actually effected, no other condition is necessary than that you should have a fair and proper valuation of those improvements. But if he is to sell something more than those improvements, we ought to know what it is, so that both parties should understand the rights about to be created and the interests which will come into existence. What is to be the nature of the right of the tenant to sell? We do not find that either in this clause, or in any clear form in Clause 44, where we might have expected to meet with a definition which would enable us to know precisely what this new thing was that the tenant had to sell. We have had this evening an intimation from the Prime Minister which was something to this effect—you have at present to consider about giving the right to sell; but if there is any question as to what is to be sold we can settle that hereafter. That is really leaving the matter in a very curious position, particularly when it is coupled with the statement of the right hon. Gentleman, made a few nights ago, when asked to lay upon the Table of the House the Amendments he was about to move to Clause 7—that the Committee could not deal with Clause 7 until they had dealt with Clause 1. We find ourselves quite unable to understand what it is that the Government propose to do in order to clear up this state of uncertainty. I think it is desirable, in the interest of both parties, that these matters should be made perfectly clear, because, as I presume, the object of this legislation is to prevent quarrels and disputes, to clear up the rights of parties, and to diminish litigation. We have, however, to thank the hon. and learned Member for Christchurch (Mr. Davey) for cutting the Gordian knot. He said—"The tenant is to be at liberty to sell whatever he has got." I will not attempt to say whether or not that solution is satisfactory—it is the old rule "that those should take who have the power, and those should keep who can." This, as it seems to me, is the point at issue—what is it that the man has got?—in all these quarrels, litigations, and outrages. The landlord says—"This is not your property, it is mine." The tenant says—"It is not. I have possession; you cannot turn me out without infringing my rights." If we are to leave the matter as it stands we are thrown back on the solution of the hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Christchurch, and in that case I cannot help thinking that the last state of Ireland is worse than the first. But I cling to the hope that before we get to the end of the Bill a definition of a more intelligible character will be arrived at. If you do not like the definition of my right lion. Friend (Sir R. Assheton Cross) let us take yours. We should prefer to have any definition that is clear to being left without any definition at all.

said, that in expressing difficulty in understanding what was the interest of the tenant, which this section dealt with, the right hon. Gentleman the Member for North Devon (Sir Stafford Northcote) spoke as if, with all respect to him, he had not studied even the elements of the question. He appeared not to have in his mind the pronouncement of the Devon Commission of 1845, which, although it did recognize the existing state of affairs in Ireland, did not recommend legislation with reference to them. It, however, did, in plain terms, assert what was reiterated in the Report of the Bess- borough Commission, that there had long been a practical assumption in dealings relating to land in Ireland of a joint proprietorship. That meant that the very thing which the right hon. Gentleman opposite ignored was in accord with the prevailing sentiment and practice both in and out of Ulster. No doubt the Act of 1870 was a bold effort of statesmanship, but still, as he (Mr. Charles Russell) thought, an imperfect mode of dealing with the Land Question in Ireland. It did, to a certain extent, recognize that interest of the tenant by providing a scale of compensation for disturbance, which, by putting a check on the right of eviction, gave to the occupying, tenant an increased reasonable expectancy of occupation in his holding; nevertheless, he had thought, and continued to think, that the Act did not go far enough. He was glad to find that the right hon. Gentleman the Prime Minister declined to commit himself to a definition of the tenant's interest. He wished the Committee to mark this, that "interest" was something more than interest in unexhausted improvements—it was that "legal recognition" for which they who represented Irish constituencies contended. What was the state of things as regarded this goodwill? The hon. Member for Monaghan (Mr. Givan)—and no one knew the actual working of the matter better than he did—had said that even in Ulster it was interfered with, to some extent, by office rules. The result was that the tenant was uncertain as to what his interest might be—he might be allowed to realize it, and he might not be allowed to do so; whereas, if he could sell to his neighbour, who might be a stronger man than himself, he would not go out of his holding a dependent, but with some money in his pocket and with a career before him. The landlord was sufficiently protected by his right of pre-emption. The best answer that could be given to the arguments against the right of free sale was the practical answer that in the part of the country where the highest prices were paid by the incoming to the outgoing tenants there the greatest prosperity prevailed. Why was that? It was because the heart of this matter was not merely a question of rent, but a question of security; and because a man who had paid, it might be, an extravagant price to come into possession of the holding, worked with a property in it, and with a sense of security. The result was that the question of rent was often of comparatively little importance; and he would add this, as following from it, that the greater security the tenant enjoyed, the greater security the landlord had for the collection of his rent. The noble Lord the Member for Barnstaple (Viscount Lymington) had pointed out, very clearly, how this tended to the security of the landlord. It was because the money paid by the incoming tenant was a security for arrears of rent, and a security against waste on the farm. The man who paid to come in, and had invested his all in the farm, would struggle as though it were a matter of life and death to make due payment. Money was not the only capital; energy was capital; bone and sinew, and the energy to struggle manfully for an existence, were often the best capital. On those grounds, he submitted this was not an Amendment which ought to be accepted. Let those who voted on the question clearly understand that the object of the Amendment was to cut out of the Bill that which the Irish people strongly desired, and that which the needs of the country strongly required.

said, he did not wish unnecessarily to prolong the discussion, and his Amendment was intended for the purpose of facilitating the proceedings of the Committee rather than the reverse. He had understood the Prime Minister, when he (Sir R. Assheton Cross) had asked the right hon. Gentleman about the Amendment on Clause 7, to say that this matter would be postponed until that clause was reached. He should like to see what the Amendment on Clause 7 would be; and if, on consideration of the merits, he could see his way to accepting it, he would not press his proposal. If he could be sure that the question could be dealt with in the Government Amendment on Clause 7, he should be happy to withdraw his proposal.

It certainly seems to me at present, Sir, that we shall not gain anything by endeavouring exhaustively to define "tenant right." That is the impression of Her Majesty's Government. We believe that tenant right consists of the interests of a man in his occupancy, and our impression is that we cannot mend the matter by defining it. The right hon. Gentleman will certainly lose nothing by the course he proposes to take, because it is plain that he will have a legitimate opportunity of making his proposal when we come to the Interpretation Clause.

wished to point out in one word that some hon. Members on that (the Conservative) side of the House seemed to be in a complete state of ignorance as to what took place in Ireland. They wished to save the incoming tenant; but they forgot that it was the invariable practice for that tenant to pay a fine to the landlord. ["No, no!"] He said "Yes, yes." The practical effect of the Bill would be to give the outgoing tenant money which was now pocketed by the landlord. There seemed to be intense curiosity as to what it was the tenant had to sell; and he would suggest that this matter should be left to the purchaser, for they might depend upon it that if there was nothing to sell there would not be a buyer.

said, his experience was very different to that of the hon. Member for Tralee (the O'Donoghue). Very large sums of money were in many cases passing from tenant to tenant. This happened sometimes openly, and with the consent of the landlord; sometimes it was restricted and forbidden; but, all the same, the money was passing. It sometimes happened in case of a marriage that the man paid a large sum of money to the father or mother of the bride to obtain the occupancy of a farm; and, in a thousand ways, these valuable considerations were passing. They were passing under the sanction of the Civil Bill Courts, and under the sanction of the Court of Chancery. A learned Judge, who administered the estates of lunatics and so on, had stated in evidence that he permitted it. This Bill would give the tenant a very substantial and tangible interest, which it would be a great hardship to prevent him from selling. It was said that the passing of these large sums of money would be found, in the course of time, to oust the interest of the landlord, and the reply to that was that practical experience in Ulster showed the very opposite. In conclusion, he would point out that free sale was very much desired by many landlords, as it would enable them to get rid of insolvent and unsatisfactory tenants. It was all very well to bring companies of soldiers to carry out ejectments; but they could not always enforce the payment of arears of rent by such means.

said, that many references had been made to the Ulster Custom and its practical working. Well, he believed that they could raise that question much better on the next Amendment, which related to the tenant being permitted to sell at the best price. He had heard of one of the largest estates in Ulster, which, he believed, was rented at below Griffith's valuation, on which tenants had asked for 50 per cent reduction on their rents. He (Lord George Hamilton) had inquired the reason for the demand, and had found the answer in a very temperate and able letter written by one of the tenants in The Belfast News Letter. The claim was as distinct as it could be, and was to this effect—"I pay a certain sum for tenant right on a certain farm, and the money is my property, and unless I can get that money back the rent is too high." When hon. Gentlemen stated that tenant right did not interfere with the payment of rent, that was one fact they should bear in mind. A Paper had been issued, showing the number of ejectments in Ireland, and he was sorry to see that those which took place in Ulster far outnumbered those in other parts of the country.

contended that there was every reason for defining accurately the tenant's interest, because a little later on they came to a clause which stated that, under certain circumstances, the Court might be called upon to fix the price of the tenant's interest; but how, he would ask, could the Court fix the price if the interest was not defined? Were they going to ask the Court to define something which they were unwilling or unable to define themselves? There appeared to him to be the strongest possible reason for defining the tenant's interest in his farm; and for that object and for this reason, before this clause was disposed of, he should certainly propose an Amendment.

said, he did not wish to enter into any argument upon the question, but desired to ask the Government, as a step towards further clauses, to clearly define in Clause 1 what they considered to be the tenant's interest in his holding. This seemed to him to be a very simple question, and one the Government should give a sufficient answer to. What they had heard from the right hon. and learned Attorney General for Ireland was no answer at all. What was the tenants "reasonable expectation?"

said, that the large number of evictions which had taken place in Ulster had been referred to; but those evictions could be easily explained. In other parts of Ireland the tenants were not entitled to sell, and the only thing they had was compensation for disturbance. In the North of Ireland, however, they had the right to sell, which was a right worth a good deal of money. When the rent was over due, the landlord had no compunction whatever in selling out his tenant. ["No, no!"] If the rent was not paid the tenant must go out. He sold his holding, he was compelled to sell it, and out of the interest due to him he paid the landlord his rent.

said, that, as had been stated in evidence, there existed in some parts of the South of Ireland that which, to all intents and purposes, was equivalent to the Ulster Custom. He was glad to take that opportunity of saying that he believed that custom had never been interfered with. The discussion had perfectly convinced him—even if his mind had not been made up—that it was a very great mistake for the Government not to attempt, simply and boldly, to say in the Bill what the measure was—what ought to be found in it, and what ought not. He believed it conferred on the tenants of Ireland a very valuable right, giving not merely a reasonable expectation, but something more—it enabled them to continue undisturbed in the occupation of their holding, so long as they fulfilled certain statutory conditions. That went quite two—fifths of the way towards giving what had been sometimes called the "three F's," and sometimes "perpetuity of tenure." The great misfortune of the position they were in was that, although these things were in the Bill, the Government would not acknowledge that such was the case. The right hon. and learned Attorney General for Ireland came for- ward and said that that was not "perpetuity of tenure," but that it was "continuity of occupation"—

I do not believe that I used that expression at all.

said, he should be sorry to misrepresent the right hon. and learned Gentleman; but he had actually taken down the words which had been used. Between perpetuity of tenure and continuity of occupation he failed to see any difference; but perhaps an Irish lawyer might. He had voted for the second reading of the Bill, because it contained an admission of that which he had always believed in in regard to small tenants in Ireland—namely, that in regard to holdings below a certain amount in value they could not maintain freedom of contract or anything of that kind. He believed that in the case of tenancies above a certain value they might leave everything to freedom of contract; but with regard to small tenants, it was necessary to give them a certain determined right, and a certain determined interest, such as existed in Ulster. That interest the right hon. and learned Gentleman had attempted to define as "continuity of occupation." He (Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice), however, did not shrink from defining the tenant's interest as the right or custom of yearly tenants to continue in undisturbed possession, so long as they acted properly as tenants and paid their rents. This was what he believed to be the tenant's interest in Ulster; and he regretted that Her Majesty's Government, instead of giving them this confused and involved measure, had not plucked up their courage and given boldly that which was undoubtedly in the Bill. Although they gave those rights in the Bill, they gave them in such a confused manner that the peasant on the Kerry mountains, of whom he knew something, would have very great difficulty in understanding that they had given him anything at all. Therefore, their measure, although framed with very great trouble, might fail of the beneficial effect they wished it to possess.

I must remind the Committee that the Question before it is—"Is it your pleasure that the Amendment be withdrawn?" If it is not your pleasure such discussion as we have had is quite legitimate.

said, they had a right to ask Her Majesty's Government what this thing was that was to be sold by the tenant. Let it be little, or let it be much, whatever it was it should be clearly explained to them. If the measure left the House in its—

I rise to Order. I respectfully submit, Sir, that the hon. Member (Mr. R. H. Paget) is disobeying your ruling.

I did not give it as a ruling; but, finding that the discussion was a very long one, I reminded the Committee of what the Question really was.

said, he wished to refer to what had fallen from the hon. Member for the City of Cork (Mr. Parnell), who had complained, with great justice, that the interest of the tenant had been left undefined in the Act of 1870. One hon. Member after another had been obliged to admit that one of the great causes of the present difficulty was that the Act of 1870 had left things in a state of confusion. No doubt something was given, or intended to be given; but that something was not defined. He ventured to say, without contradiction, that if the Bill left that House in its present state, indefinite and uncertain, it would prove no more a settlement of the question than the Act of 1870. That Act failed because the House did not know what it gave, and if it was intended to give something the House ought to know what it was.

regretted that the Amendment was about to be withdrawn, because the more time was spent in getting from the Government something like a clear statement as to what was really to be given to the tenant, the more would the way be smoothed. Nothing was obtained from the Government but confused and indistinct statements. One evening the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland (Mr. Law) used the word "deduction," and the next official disavowed it. There had never been one decided statement, and he (Mr. Warton) believed the Government intended to leave the matter in confusion in order that the country should not know what it was that was taken from the landlord and given to the tenant. He warned that Government that the Bill would go to "another place."

asked whether the hon. and learned Member's remarks were in Order?

The hon. and learned Member is not in Order.

said, there seemed to be a determination on the other side to prevent discussion. He was giving the Government a friendly warning, in order that they might avoid a collision between the two Houses. They wanted to provoke a collision, and in such a way that they should get the best of it; but the way to prevent that was to send the Bill to "another place" with a clear definition. To send it up in a confused state, so that the country would see that one House refused to have a clear definition, while the other wanted it, would not be to the interest of the Government. There were men in "another place" who would give a clear definition to the object of the Bill. In 1870 something was taken away, and the Government were now going to take something more away. The Prime Minister had said that, in addition to the value of his improvements, the tenant was entitled to something else, he having paid the competition rent. It was put somewhat in this way. First, there was the land hunger, and it was assumed that that existed on every farm in Ireland. There might be places where it did not prevail; but supposing it did exist, and the competition rent of a farm was forced up from £400 to £500, then, as he understood the Premier, if a tenant paid £100 more than the farm was worth, that would give him a property in the farm. He should say it should be the other way; but the object of the Bill was to give every tenant, whether he paid a fair rent—or on some properties more or less than the value—something else. This iron rule was to be applied alike to the Ulster tenants and to others; and the man who had not paid was to be put in the same position as the man who had. Then there was another thing, the desire to benefit present tenants only. Present tenants were to be benefited; but the Government cared nothing about the landlords or the future tenants. That was why the Bill was a premium to agitation.

thought the Committee was etitled to have a clear definition from the Government, for they could not legislate without knowing the meaning and intention of the Government. He trusted the Government would reconsider the matter, and before the clause passed say clearly what they considered to be the tenant's interest, which, in fixing the rent, the Court would have to take into account.

thought the Mover and supporters of the Amendment were more or less unreasonable; because, if the Amendment was carried, it would take away something which the Act of 1870 gave. At the same time, he thought the opponents of the Amendment had some cause for complaint against the Government, for the Government seemed to leave a great deal to chance; and he would suggest to them, as much for the satisfaction of the friends of the tenant as of those of the landlord, to be a little more clear in their definitions with regard to some parts of the Bill.

said, he did not propose to make a speech upon his Amendment; but he proposed in page 1, line 8, to leave out the word "his" and insert the words "any interest he has in such," and so make the clause simpler to the end of it. He believed his Amendment would be a clearer definition, and would do more justice than the clause as it stood.

said, the proposed words were quite unnecessary, and explained that "tenancy," according to the Definition Clause, meant the interest the tenant had in his holding. It was more convenient to use one than half-a-dozen words, and the Bill had been framed with a view to using the word "tenancy" throughout. The change was at most only a verbal one, and he should prefer to retain the words in the clause.

thought "interest" was very little longer than "tenancy;" but after what the right hon. and learned Gentleman had said he would not put the Committee to the trouble of dividing.

pointed out that the words proposed by his hon. and learned Friend (Mr. Staveley Hill) were used in Clause 7, and he thought they might be used in Clause 1.

proposed, as an Amendment, to leave out, in page 1, line 8, the words "for the best price that can be got for the same." It was one thing to tell a man to sell something which was not defined; but it was not necessary to add "the best price to be got for the same." He thought that was going too far, and the words were also contradictory, because further on in the clause it would be seen that, under certain circumstances, the highest possible price could not be obtained. If a landlord wished to make use of his pre-emptive right, he would have to go to the Court to fix the price. The Court would naturally fix a fair and just price between the parties, and it would be contradictory for the tenant to say he would get a higher price, and that the Bill said he was to get the best price he could. He would be dissatisfied, and his confidence in the Court would be shaken. He did not wish to go over the question of what tenant right was; but it was almost impossible to avoid doing so, because the Bill was so much involved. The Prime Minister had invariably said the tenant right was to be limited. But how? It might be limited by a clause saying the tenant might sell this or that; but they must restrict the price. He had never been able to find out what the interest was; and there should be some principle by which the landlord and the Court and everybody concerned could know what they had to deal with. The landlord would think it hard if the pre-emptive clause forced him to pay the highest price to be got in the market—namely, a fancy price for a fictitious value. He believed, as the Bill proceeded, it would be necessary to introduce some restrictions; but it was unwise to hamper themselves at the beginning by saying "the highest price to be obtained." It was sufficient to say the tenant might sell. There was another point worthy of attention. The tenants in Ireland had always been easily misled; they never cared to study Acts of Parliament, and the very 1st clause of this Bill, telling them to get the highest price, would lead them to imagine themselves with their pockets full of money. The hon. and gallant Member concluded by moving the Amendment of which he had given Notice.

thought the Amendment involved almost a truism. The object of the Amendment was to prevent the Bill from saying that the tenant should sell for the best price. He did not think it at all necessary to say that, because the tenant would sell for the best price he could get, and the Amendment was only a verbal one, which it was not worth while to discuss at any length. The tenant would not sell except for the best price, and it was a matter of little practical importance whether the words were left in or not. He hoped the hon. and gallant Member would withdraw the Amendment.

observed, that the Amendment must be taken in connection with other Amendments on the Paper, which were limited to the right of free sale. The way to look at it was this. The Ulster Custom was originally an unrestricted right of free sale; but recently it had been restricted by office rules. The first lines of the Bill contained a declaration that the tenant should sell for the best price. That recognized the right of the tenant to get the best price; but if these words were struck out, that would enable the landlord to come in and say—"You may sell, but we will restrict the price." The words could do no harm, and he hoped they would be retained.

said, that having an Amendment very much to the same effect as this, he would state the reasons why he thought the words should be omitted. He did not object that the words were too indefinite; on the contrary, they definitely stated that the price for which the article was to be sold was to be the very best price. They defined that only too well, because they established an inconsistency with sub- section 3 of the clause, according to which, in certain cases of disagreement as to the price, the price was to be settled by the Court; and if the words "the best price" remained in the Bill it would be clearly held in Court, when the Court was called upon to decide the value of a tenancy for sale, that the principle of assessment and value had been laid down in the Act. There would be no limitation, and whatever the tenant had to sell, he was to get the "best price" for it; and it would become a nice question whether the Court would have to define, not only what it was that the tenant had to sell, but what the best price was to be. If the price was to be defined as the best price, what would he the best price? The open unrestricted market price. He wanted to understand where they were in this matter. There were many reasons for omitting these words. He recognized to the fullest extent the Ulster Custom—not because he approved of the theory of tenant right, but because the system had grown up and he was not going to disturb it. But they were dealing now with cases in the South of Ireland where there was no such custom; they were dealing with a number of cases in parts where all kinds of habits and customs were in vogue. It was said that in many cases estates were managed on the English principle, and improvements were made by the landlord and not by the tenant. One of the great difficulties of the Bill was that it proposed to proceed on one system with regard to all kinds of tenancies. Suppose a tenant had entered a holding without paying anything, and in a few years, without having made any improvements, he desired to leave and to sell his interest, what sort of interest could he be considered to have created? He had made no improvements and spent no money on the farm; and yet, according to the Bill, he would be enabled to sell for the best price that to which he had no legal right by any action of his own. That would establish, in such cases, a usage which had never before existed, and by which a tenant would obtain property to which he had not contributed one sou. There was another reason for the Amendment. They had been constantly assured that it was intended to deal out even-handed justice as between landlord and tenant. If the State thought fit to restrain the authority of the landlord and prevent him from dealing in open market and getting the best price he could in the way of rent for his farm—and he was not contending against that principle, for it might be quite necessary to do so—even-handed justice demanded that if, on the one hand, they limited the interest of the landlord by preventing his going into open market, on the other hand they should limit the right of the tenant to go into open market. It seemed to him the commonest act of justice to treat the landlord and the tenant equally in this matter. But there was another reason, which he considered stronger still, for these words to be omitted. They were dealing with Ireland, unfortunately, in a state in which they would not wish to see it. Ireland's misfortunes existed, despite the fact that in the last few years many remedial measures had been passed with the object and intention of improving the condition of the people. If that was the condition of Ireland despite those Acts—he might almost say owing to those very Acts—

rose to Order, and asked whether the hon. Member (Mr. R. H. Paget) was speaking to the Amendment before the Committee?

said, if the hon. Member for Cavan would have a few minutes' patience, he would see that the remarks had some bearing on the point. The Encumbered Estates Act had induced speculation and jobbing—

rose to Order. He wished to know what that Act had to do with the Amendment?

I am waiting to see whether the hon. Member (Mr. R. H. Paget) does make his remarks applicable to the Question.

again resuming, said, he maintained that the Encumbered Estates Act had failed in a large measure, and was responsible for much of the present state of things in Ireland. He contended also that the Act of 1870 was likewise responsible, and that under that Act there had grown up exorbitant rents which had led to the present disturbances. Why did those two Acts fail? Because, in spite of them, extravagant rents had grown up, and there had been undue competition for land. Competition for land had caused the failure of those Acts; and he wished to prove that if the present Bill remained as it was, unamended in this particular respect, there would be the same competition and the same result. To give the tenant the power to get the best possible price would give rise with the most absolute certainty to this—step by step, as each successive occupier went into a holding, the amount of payment would be more and more heavy; that would continue, and although the landlord would be unable to get 6d. more of rent, the tenant would be unrestricted in selling his interest, and the value would go on increasing until the rents would be as exorbitant as ever. The term "the best price" might satisfy the present tenant, and the present landlord; but they alone were not to be considered. How would the Act affect the future tenants? He believed it would lead to those exorbitant rents which were one of the chief causes of Ireland's difficulties. But how as to the future landlord? If exorbitant rents existed in future, the tenants who paid them would never stop to consider that the landlord was not to blame; but that they were due to the fact that they themselves on entering tenancies paid extravagant prices for what they bought. If the story of landhunger was true; if men would still continue to commit the folly of bidding against each other, and paying for occupation a great deal more than it was worth, what would be the inevitable result? The successful competitor would be launched by his success on the high road to ruin, and his only possible escape would be to sell to some equally deluded purchaser. With their experience it would be madness to deal only with present landlords and present tenants. Everybody wished to restore peace and prosperity to Ireland; and if they took a lesson from the past, and applied that to the present difficulties, they might hope for a happier future for Ireland. But if these words were left he believed they would have but one effect—to prepare for Ireland a certain future of exorbitant rents. He hoped the appeal to the Government would not be vain on this point. There was nothing in the Amendment out of harmony with the principle of the Bill. The principle of the Bill was not absolutely uudiluted free sale. It was conditional free sale, and the object of the Amendment he proposed to move was to infuse into that free sale the principle of justice. He believed it would secure the fullest right to the tenant without injury to the landlord.

said, that with regard to these Amendments by English Members, he would suggest that inasmuch as this was a Bill entirely affecting Irish Members, it would be well if English Members abstained from taking part in the discussion. As to the particular Amendment before the Committee, he hoped the Government would not agree to it, and for this reason, that, after all, the best test of the value of any article was what it would fetch in the open market. It was very desirable the clause should remain unchanged. Provision was made in a subsequent part of the clause that the holding might be taken into the possession of the landlord, and if these words were struck out, there would be nothing to show what the landlord was to give. It was argued that tenants were very likely to give too high a price for a holding, and that they might impoverish themselves. Hon. Members who argued in this way forgot that in most of these cases the tenants probably had money lying in various banks and bearing interest at 1 and 1½ per cent, and, taking that into account, it would be found that although a very large number of years' purchase might be given, the price could not be called exorbitant. No tangible reason had been given for the acceptance of the Amendment.

said, the Amendment now before the Committee was to strike out certain words which either had or had not any meaning. He believed they had a distinct meaning, and therefore he was disposed to support the Amendment. What was the condition of the tenantry of Ireland contrasted with those who wished to become tenants? Speaking roughly, he might say there were some 600,000 men at present in the occupation of land, and there were some 400,000 who wished to become tenants. Now, the clause as it stood gave an enormous advantage to the 600,000 at the expense of the 400,000. The whole measure was supported upon the idea that the "land hunger" was so great that the tenants must be protected against the landlords. But what class of Irishmen were most possessed of this hunger? Was it that class already in the occupation of land, or that class who were not in occupation, but who wished to become so; and which class was most deserving of the protection of the Legislature? Why, clearly the latter, and not the former. The clause as it stood was entirely in favour of the existing race of tenant farmers, and against the 400,000 who wished to become tenants. The hon. Gentleman the Member for Cavan (Mr. Biggar), following the lead of the Prime Minister the other night, defended the clause as at present framed, on the ground that after all a bargain made in the open market was the best. If there was anything just in the principle of the Bill, it was ten times more just to limit the purchase-money which was to be paid by these most dependent people in Ireland to the men who were now in possession. It seemed to him the Bill, as drawn, was nothing more or less than one huge bribe to the men in occupation. These men were a very powerful class politically; but it was said that socially and morally they were without power. It was a great bribe to this class at the expense of their landlords on the one side, and against the interests of the incoming tenants or would-be tenants of Ireland, who, politically speaking, were a powerless class on the other. The clause as now drawn was essentially unfair, and he should support the Amendment of the hon. and gallant Gentleman (Captain Aylmer).

pointed out that the total number of occupiers of agricultural holdings in Ireland was, on the authority of the Registrar General, not more than 576,040 in 1879, and, by the present Census, was shown to be not more than 523,609. What particular argument the noble Lord the Member for North Leicestershire (Lord John Manners) chose to draw from the fact that there were 400,000 labourers in the position of expectant tenants, he (Dr. Lyons) was not able to see, because no one could conceive that the labourers of Ireland were in a position to replace in any considerable number the present tenant occupiers. It might be a very desirable thing at a later stage of the Bill to discuss whether additional provision should not be made to place a certain portion of the labouring class upon the waste lands. That was entirely beside the question at present. An absolute necessity existed for retaining the words in the clause, or for substituting some other words which should preserve to the occupying tenant the right of selling his holding. This was really one of the most vital and essential clauses of the whole Bill. For the first time for many centuries in this country the Legislature now proposed to recognize what anyone who took the trouble to inquire into the historical position of the Irish tenant must and could easily find out—namely, that the tenant had an undoubted right to the position which he at present occupied; that he was, in fact, the historical successor of the primary owner or occupier. He trusted the Government would see the absolute necessity of standing firm to this clause. There was no question whatever that the great expectation existing throughout Ireland was that there was now to be, not a confiscation, but a restoration of those rights to which the tenants firmly believed they were entitled by an unbroken tradition. Unless these traditional rights which the tenants had in their hearts, and which all the Commissions plainly showed really existed, and were habitually acted upon, were fully acknowledged, they would never be able to produce a condition of stable equilibrium in Ireland, or one that would give satisfaction to the Irish tenants. In point of fact, the right to an occupation, and a continuous transmission of occupation in Ireland, was far more clear and far more ancient in other Provinces in Ireland than it was in Ulster. In the Province of Ulster it dated from the reign of James I., while in the other Provinces it dated from periods earlier than the Desmond confiscations of property in the reign of Elizabeth. In many instances where large seignories were conferred upon the English settlers, it was only upon the conditions that they should plant the lands and establish a certain and defined number of tenants upon them, with a clearly determined acreage for each class of tenant. It was worthy of note that the Irish property so ably represented in that House by the noble Lord the Member for Barnstaple (Lord Lymington), and on which "free sale" existed with such happy results, as shown in the eloquent speech of his noble Friend, was held in direct descent from one of the original grantees of a seignory (Sir Henry Wallop). It was said that it was the Act of 1870 which first created an interest in the tenancies of Ireland. He believed that was a mistake, for that Act only went a short way, and it was simply a timorous step towards the recognition by the Legislature of a pre-existent right; and one reason why it did not give full satisfaction to the Irish tenants was that it did not recognize what they themselves knew very well from tradition to be the fact—namely, the right they had to continuous residence on the land they now occupied. He believed the great step they were now taking would undoubtedly have the effect of producing a state of tranquillity by recognizing in the tenants the right to dwell in the lands they now occupied, so long as they fulfilled the conditions under which they held them. He would venture to cite to the House the words of the Statute 18 Edward I.—

"Liceat unicuique libero homini terram suam, vel tenementum, vel partem, inde pro voluntate suâ vendere."

To the operation of that statute might be traced the growth of that class which in a shortly subsequent period had furnished the soldiers who fought at Cressy, at Poictiers, and at Agincourt. He had never heard it alleged that that was a Confiscation or Spoliation Statute as against the great lords, the magnates, and the Domini Capitales of the Kingdom. He trusted, as he had said, that the Government would stand firm upon this clause, and he regretted that any intimation had as yet been given that it was possible it might be altered. He believed that nothing would be more dangerous with regard to the future effect of this clause than trying to whittle it away or qualify it. Such a step would only be to open up ground of future dissension among the tenants. Any attempt made to minimize or qualify the clause would only be laying ground for future discontent and trouble. If they had the courage to take as their precedent the great Statute of Edward I., now nearly 600 years old, they would go a long way towards putting an end to the dissatisfaction and discontent which prevailed in Ireland, and in producing a condition of permanent tranquillity.

did not intend to enter into a discussion of the clause at all, but would confine his remarks to the Amendment, and he would ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland (Mr. Law) the meaning of the words "the best price that can be got." Was it not a very clumsy phrase to put in an Act of Parliament? What was the best price that could be got? If a price were named, and they went up to a Judge upon the Bench, with one lawyer on the one side and another on the other, the one would say whatever the price was, that it was the best that could be got, while the other would as certainly say that it was not; and where were they then? Was it the best phrase that could be used, or was it not a most clumsy phrase? He did not find fault with the clause; but he did not think that the Judge should be bothered and annoyed because they could not understand the meaning of any particular expression in an Act of Parliament. Surely they would never dream of putting into the clause "the best industry that could be got," "the best honesty that could be got." No Court could understand the meaning of such phrases. He hoped the phrase would be left out, and that some words would be afterwards inserted to define what it was that was meant. It was by such clumsy legislation that Courts of Law were puzzled when they came to consider Acts of Parliament.

said, the words referred to would occasion no embarrassment to any Judge who had ever been in the habit of interpreting the common trust for sale which was contained in ordinary deeds. The hon. Baronet the Member for Finsbury (Sir Andrew Lusk) asked the meaning of the phrase. He would tell the hon. Baronet the meaning. It meant that a tenant should have the power of transferring what was his to another tenant for the best price that could be got for it in the market. They did not mean to authorize any restrictions, or to enable the landlord to insist upon the tenant not selling to a stranger. They meant, as a general rule, that the tenant should be able to transfer his property—namely, what belonged to himself as distinguished from what belonged to the landlord—and by no possibility could a provision of that kind operate to the disadvantage of anybody. The tenant simply transferred property that was his own, and subjected the landlord to no more injury than the tenant would be subjected to by the landlord transferring his reversion. The clause provided that whatever the tenant might have to sell, he should be able to sell in the open market for the highest price that he could obtain for it.

said, he trusted, before they came to a decision, the Government would recognize the immense gravity of the question before them. The statement just made by the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland was not quite consistent with the Bill. The right hon. and learned Gentleman said that the clause gave the tenant the power of selling only what belonged to him. If it only gave the tenant the power to sell what belonged to him, why did they give power in the Bill, if he sold something that did not belong to him, to recoup the owner? [The ATTORNEY GENERAL for IRELAND (Mr. Law): Where is that?] It was in that very clause, which said that if the outgoing tenant sold the improvements which the landlord had made, the landlord could then claim from the person to whom the improvements were sold the value of them; and in Clause 7 it was specially provided that if the rent was below what the Court considered a fair rent, and the outgoing tenant sold the difference between that rent and a fair rent, the landlord might get compensation from the person to whom the property had been sold. Those words in the Bill appeared to be utterly inconsistent with the declaration of the Prime Minister, because the right hon. Gentleman told them that it was not intended to give by the Bill an unlimited right of free sale. The argument which had been used in favour of unlimited right of free sale had been naturally derived from the experience gained by what was going on in Ulster. Now, he lived a great deal in Ulster, and in a part of the county where the tenant right was higher than almost anywhere else. It was perfectly true that in the North of Ireland there was a more satisfactory condition of things so far as land tenure was concerned than in other parts of Ireland; and it was also true that free sale was an ingredient of the Ulster tenant right system. Therefore, it was argued that if they extended that system of free sale to other parts of Ireland, they would establish a state of things as satisfactory as that which existed in Ulster. Now, that was an entire illusion. The hon. and learned Member for Dundalk (Mr. Charles Russell) had given an eloquent description of the wrongs which Ireland had so long been suffering—social, political, religious, and commercial. But it must be remembered that Ulster was especially free from such disabilities. In the first place, there was a similarity in creed, an affinity in race between the occupiers and the owners of the soil in Ulster which did not exist in any other part of Ireland. Secondly, they had concentrated in the North of Ireland the one great manufacturing industry—namely, the cultivation of flax and the manufacture of linen. The enormous advantage of that manufacturing industry in Ulster might be stated in a sentence. The increase in the population of Belfast alone was greater than the increase over the whole of Ireland. Outside Ulster, the population of no town had increased; whereas, in Ulster, the population of almost every town had increased. Thirdly, there had never been among the Northern districts the same dislike of emigration; and fourthly, and lastly, the people of Ulster had brought to bear more concentrated habits of industry than existed elsewhere. The advantages of tenant right wore self-evident under those circumstances. Every tenant had a right, which he could realize whenever he wanted to sell. In many parts of Ulster, what were called roadside evictions were almost unknown—that was to say, that people were not turned out houseless and penniless on the roadside. But if any pressure were put upon them, they could realize their tenant right at once. He had no wish to depreciate the enormous advantages of Ulster tenant right; but there were certain disadvantages. The most preposterous price was paid for tenant right, so that a new tenant came in rack-rented up to the very hilt. He had seen cases in which the tenant had put forward improvements effected by the landlord as an inducement to purchasers to buy the farm, and had stated that the landlord was considerate, and would not press for arrears. In Ulster, what were known as "sweeteners" went round and forced up the price of tenant right, so that men who desired to obtain land were compelled to pay a tremendous price for it. He had no wish to attack the system of tenant right in Ulster. He approved of that part of the Bill which prevented the rights of the tenant from being confiscated at the termination of a lease. Therefore, he was not arguing against the question of tenant right; but he contended that that clause did not apply to Ulster tenant right. And he would go further, and say that wherever the Ulster tenant right did hereafter apply to a tenancy, the principle of free sale should be given to the tenant. They knew the advantage of the Ulster Custom, and its disadvantages also. Then, could not they, in the new statutory tenant right they were about to apply all over Ireland, give to the tenant all that he could justly claim, and, at the same time, give it to him free from the unquestionable danger which attended unlimited free sale? The right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland said he had never known a case where the incoming tenant was not wealthier than the outgoing tenant. That meant that the only tenants in future would be rich ones. Another argument which naturally occurred why Ulster tenant right remained so high was, that very few farms changed hands. That being so, it would appear to follow that the efficacy of the proposed arrangements would be shown in their being practically inoperative. He quite agreed that as the House, by a large majority, had assented to the second reading of the Bill, and as the condition of Ireland was very critical, it was the duty of all of them to point out any dangers that existed, in order to make the remedies as complete as possible. There was one suggestion which he himself would make to the House, and he had placed an Amendment on page 4 of the Paper with that view. He would give to every tenancy to which the Ulster Custom at the present moment applied, or to which it might hereafter apply, with the consent of the landlord, an unlimited right of free sale. But to those tenancies to which that section applied outside Ulster, he would give the landlord power in any case to ask the Court to value the tenancy the tenant proposed to sell; and in this way a tenant would get complete security for his improvements and for any interest he might have. But if they did not enact some such limitation as that, they might find themselves involved in very great difficulties. He might enumerate one or two which unquestionably would occur. It was difficult, however, to raise the question without referring to Clause 7, which affected rent. He would illustrate his meaning by a casual reference to that clause. The reason why the Government brought in this Bill was, he understood, that owing to the land hunger which existed the prices given for land were very high, and that the landlord took advantage of this land hunger to charge excessive rents. The Bill said—"You shall have a rent assigned to you by the Court, and not one farthing more shall you get;" and to the tenant they said—"You shall sell your share for the maximum competitive price you can get in the market." Then what followed? It was a matter of certainty that if the landlord's interest was so regulated by statute as to prevent him getting one farthing of this inflated price for land, and the tenant could get what price he could obtain, that he would get the inflated value, not only on his share, but on the landlord's share also. This was what did happen now, and would happen again. Then what did they do? They deducted the interest they had given to the tenant from the commercial or full value of the farm. He had talked pretty often to the farmers of the North of Ireland about their tenant right, and the argument they always used was this—"We have a property in this farm." Had the Prime Minister ever attempted to define what that interest was? It was the simple definition of "pounds, shillings, and pence;" and if, hereafter, any landlord allowed any tenant to sell any portion of his interest, and the incoming tenant had paid money for it, the tenant would regard the sum he had so paid as a pecuniary charge upon that farm. It would naturally be suggested at once to that tenant, that if hereafter, owing to a fall of prices, or to a series of bad years, he could not realize in the market the money he had given for that interest, it was due to the rent being too high. That had happened before, and would happen again; and what were they going to do under the Bill? A great deal had been said as to the satisfactory relations which existed between Lord Portsmouth and his tenants. No doubt, Lord Portsmouth treated his tenants with kindness and consideration; but his estates were in a different position from the majority of estates. The land was exceptionally good; there were no holdings under 20 acres; and, lastly, it was situated close to an excellent market—the town of Enniscorthy. If those conditions existed elsewhere, they would not have the Irish difficulty to deal with; and it was because they did not exist that they were called upon to deal with it. Therefore, they could not draw any conclusion from what was the result of unlimited free sale on Lord Portsmouth's estate. The fact was, that if they split an Irish tenancy into two, the two halves would exceed the whole. It was a curious fact, but it was so. He challenged contradiction of the statement that if the landlord bought the tenant right on his farms, he would get a better price by keeping them separate than by amalgamating them. If this clause passed in its present shape, he was afraid that the result would be that the landlords whose rents would be most reduced would be those who had shown the greatest consideration for their tenants. It was admitted that rent regulated tenant right—that was to say, the higher the rent the lower the tenant right. If that was so, the position could not be reversed; it could not be said that unlimited tenant right meant higher rents. It was an entire fallacy to assume that rents in the North of Ireland were so much higher than they were elsewhere, in consequence of the existence of tenant right. Rents were higher because in that part of the country there were a certain number of towns, each with a largely increasing population, which afforded better markets for the produce of the neighbouring farms. Having advanced what he considered to be good reasons why the words "for the best price that can be got for the same" should not stand in this section, he said he was anxious, in every possible way, to protect the Ulster Custom. At the same time, he thought the Committee would, be acting unwisely deliberately to ignore the experience derived from the working of that custom during some years. Some years ago, when the Prussians had beaten the French, it was determined to adopt in England the short-service system, in spite of the warnings that the conditions of its success in Prussia were wanting here; and the result had been recurring difficulties, which could be met only by expenditure. The defects of Army organization might be remedied by the expenditure of money; but if we now insisted on an unlimited extension of tenant right in Ireland, ignoring the disadvantages which accompanied it in Ulster, we should not find it easy, by expenditure or any future legislation, to remedy the mistake. We should be giving every tenant a right in his tenancy, the value of which would vary as the landlord was good or bad, and the better he was, the higher would be the tenant's interest. This seemed to him very hard upon those who treated their tenants well. On those grounds, he asked the serious attention of the Committee to his proposal, which was to protect the Ulster Custom where it now existed, or where, hereafter, it might exist, but to prevent a tenant selling that which unquestionably did not belong to him, because hereafter he would claim it as his property, and that claim would have to be made good.

said, he had listened with interest to the speech of the noble Lord the Member for Middlesex (Lord George Hamilton), who spoke with great fairness as well as knowledge of the subject. The question of Ulster tenant right occupied a large share of the attention of the Committee on which he (Mr. Shaw) had served. Evidence of all kinds had been laid before them, and they had endeavoured to find out, as far as they could, the defects of the system, and how they could be remedied. The result of their investigations was that, according to the experience of every man who knew the country, it was not of the slightest use to attempt to limit the Ulster Custom, and that any attempt to do so must end in failure. None of the office rules that it should be limited either to five or 10 years' purchase had been effective; for when a sale took place it was invariable that a sum of money was paid outside the office in addition to that which was paid within it. Take the most prosperous parts of Ireland—the Downshire property, the estates of the noble Lord's father, and almost any in the North of Ireland, where the tenant right had been unlimited and practically uninterfered with by the landlord in any way—would there not be found on these estates the best class of tenants in Ireland, who had been in all respects the most prosperous, and who had improved their holdings to the greatest extent? There were other things than high rents to be considered by landlords; there was such a thing as safety in the matter of rents to be borne in mind. The man who was content with moderate rents, when his neighbour fixed them 10 or 15 per cent higher, would in in a number of years obtain the most money, with the satisfaction of being surrounded with a more prosperous and contented tenantry. What had made Ulster prosperous? It was the fact that the landlords had been kind and indulgent, and the security afforded to the tenants had induced them to lay out money in improvements upon their farms, until there was better farming than was to be found on some of the crack farms of England. If they could embody the 7th clause with the 1st, he believed there would be little trouble with the rest of the Bill. As to the tenant right, that was about to be extended to the rest of Ireland. The Bill would not create it. On almost every estate it had existed, not only since the Land Act, but before the passing of that measure. Wherever a tenant got into arrears and wished to move, no landlord prevented him realizing something for the goodwill of the holding and for improvements. This was rooted in the minds of the people, and there was no use in trying to interfere with it. You might as well attempt to root out the Irish brogue or an English accent. The English system of managing estates hardly existed in Ireland, and no landlord would try to adopt it; he must accept the conditions of the country, and in that way he would get more rent in the long run from a happier population around him.

said, he could not pass without contradiction the statement of the hon. Member for Cork County (Mr. Shaw) that there was absolutely no part of Ireland in which tenant right did not exist. He was bound to point out that the statement of the hon. Member did not tally with the evidence given before the Agricultural Commission, and to remind him that there were cases in which the landlords had actually bought up and extinguished the tenant right.

reminded the Committee that the only objection that had been taken by the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland to the Amendment was that it would enable landlords to fix office rules. There was amongst landlords no particular objection to the fixing of fair rents, nor to a certain continuity of tenure; but they very much objected to unlimited free sale. It was clearly unfair that the landlords should have the value of their property fixed, and that the tenants should be able to sell their holdings in the open market. He thought that sufficient reasons had now been given to enable the Committee to come to a decision.

did not understand on what grounds landlords should thus strongly press these objections to the right of free sale. It had been admitted that instead of insolvent tenants, solvent tenants would be substituted. In consequence, more capital would be applied to the cultivation of the land, and the arrears of rent due to the landlord would be made good. He submitted that it was a great mistake to suppose that the right of continuous occupation in unimproved land had sprung into existence only under it in consequence of the passing of the Act of 1870. That right had been recognized by the Devon Commission, and the Report showed that it was created not alone by the improvements effected by the tenant, but that it existed also in connection with land on which there had not been a shilling expenditure in that way by tenants. It arose, as shown in the evidence, from the fact only of occupation by the tenant. Therefore, he appealed to hon. Members to dismiss from their minds the idea that this right of sale which existed under it was incident to the Ulster Custom. The tenant's interest had been alone created by the tenant's improvements.

said, there was a distinct divergence in the statements made by the Prime Minister and the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland, as to what was intended by the words which stood in the clause at the point now before the Committee. The former right hon. Gentleman stated that he did not mean there should be unlimited tenant right; while the right hon. and learned Gentleman stated, with equal distinctness, that the meaning was that the best price that could be got should be obtained for the tenancy. In view of so complete a divergence between the statements of those right hon. Gentlemen, he did not think the Committee should go to a division without further explanation.

Sir, the hon. Member who has just sat down (Mr. Brodrick) has pointed to a supposed divergence in the statements of my right hon. and learned Friend and myself, which I am able to show is no divergence whatever. My right hon. and learned Friend, whose opinions I know, and who is in the closest communication with me on the Bill, in supporting the wording of the clause, declared that to obtain the best price that could be had in open market was the general rule in Ulster. With regard to the inflated state of the market, and the consequent unhealthy competition—these are matters which have created the exceptional conditions which we are about to deal with, and can be considered separately.

who had the following Amendment on the Paper:—In page 1, line 8, omit "the best price that can be got for the same," and insert—

"A fair price—that is to say, in the case of any holding subject to the Ulster tenant-right custom, or to any usage corresponding therewith in which the customary sale of such tenant-right has hitherto been in open market, the best price to be obtained by such sale in open market.

"And in every other case such price as may be agreed upon between landlord and tenant, or, in case of dispute, may be settled by the Court, after consideration of all the circumstances of the case, as the fair price for such tenancy;"

said, he had hoped that the last Amendment, which was one of a liberal character, would have been met by Her Majesty's Government in a friendly spirit. It was not hostile, and it had not been conceived in a spirit of hostility, to the Bill. But it had not been its fate to be accepted, and they had an important admission from the Prime Minister that the point the Committee had decided was to be the ordinary law for the present, and that exceptional cases, the result of which was feverish excitement, intense competition, and extravagant prices, could be dealt with subsequently. They had had a most important admission from the Prime Minister; and, seeing that they were to have another opportunity of considering the matter under the Amendment of the noble Lord the Member for Middlesex (Lord George Hamilton), in order to shorten the debate, he should be willing to withdraw his proposal.

said, the Amendment which stood in the name of the hon. Member for Mid Lincolnshire (Mr. Chaplin) had been decided by a previous Vote.

said he had an Amendment to move which he thought deserved to receive some consideration from the Prime Minister. The right hon. Gentleman had practically declared that he was prepared to entertain any reasonable Amendment to the proposal for free sale which had just been carried—that where it could be proved that there were cases deserving consideration, where tenant right had been bought up by the landlord, an exception should be made. The right hon. Gentleman, in answer to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Brand), had stated that in cases of new tenancies, where the landlord let at a reasonable rent, there was a primâ facia case for saying that no tenant right should exist. Would the right hon. Gentleman say how far he was prepared to go with regard to these exceptions? He (Sir Walter B. Barttelot) had put down a very reasonable Amendment, to the effect that exception should be made where the landlord had purchased the tenant right from the tenant, or where the tenant had received some equivalent for the same; but if the Prime Minister would give a satisfactory answer to his question, he would withdraw the Amendment and accept the words the Government would put in the Bill. The right hon. Gentleman, he felt sure, at any rate, he hoped, would not run away from his promise, and he would ask him to rise in his place and state to the Committee how far he was prepared to go. In the meantime, he would formally move the Amendment of which he had given Notice.

said, the Amendment of the hon. and gallant Baronet opposite (Sir Walter B. Barttelot) dealt with the point that he (Mr. Brand) had raised in the Amendment he had moved; in fact, it went further, and he was therefore unable to support it. He would remind the Committee of what occurred on the occasion to which he referred. He had moved to omit from the operation of this clause future tenancies. It was acknowledged by the noble Lord the Member for Woodstock (Lord Randolph Churchill) and by the Prime Minister that there was some good in the Amendment; but it was said that it would prevent a certain class of tenants from selling that which they had bought. It was not his intention to do that; and, therefore, as he had understood the Prime Minister to make a concession to the effect that in regard to exceptional cases—namely, where a man rented land which the landlord had in his own hands at the time of the passing of the Act, or land of which the landlord had bought up the tenant right, there should be an exception made, and that favourable consideration would be given to any new Amendment on the question, he had withdrawn his proposal. The right hon. Baronet the Member for North Devon (Sir Stafford Northcote) had rather complained of his action in this respect, and seemed to think that he (Mr. Brand) ought to have pressed his Amendment, even if it were shown to be an unreasonable one. The Amendment, as it was clearly shown, went too far; therefore, he thought he was justified in withdrawing it, and trusting to the concession which he understood the Prime Minister to make. Well, he had considered the question of making further Amendments to the Bill; and as the effect of the Bill as it stood would be to rack rent the future tenant, he thought the best way to meet the point would be by a permissive clause, enabling the tenant, in the cases contemplated, to contract himself out of the Act. That Amendment had better come in another part of the Bill; but it seemed to him that this was the best way of meeting the point. His Amendment would give the landlord an opportunity to offer the tenant an alternative, and would enable him to say—"If you will contract yourself out of this sale clause, I will not charge you any premium; it will not be necessary for me to charge you the full commercial rent." He (Mr. Brand) might be right, or he might be wrong; but that was the way the matter struck him, and he would ask the Prime Minister how far he would be able to go in accepting it?

I was about to rise when I saw that my hon. Friend behind me (Mr. Brand) wished to address the Committee; otherwise I should not have lost a moment in replying to the hon. and gallant Baronet opposite (Sir Walter B. Barttelot). If this had been a matter of confiscation, I should have requested him not to introduce the Amendment on this portion of the clause; because I think it evident that the best thing to do would be, first to decide upon the general construction of the clause, and then proceed to introduce the limiting conditions or exceptions which it might be proper to introduce. With regard to what has fallen from the hon. Member behind me, I may say that I am fully prepared to carry out the pledge I gave the hon. Member the other night in qualified terms—in qualified terms, because then I had not been able, as I have had an opportunity since, of considering the matter fully and discussing it with my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General for Ireland. As my hon. Friend has observed, the Amendment of the hon. and gallant Baronet goes further in one respect than the Amendment my hon. Friend moved on a former occasion, because it deals with two cases; first, where the landlord has purchased the tenant right from the tenant; and next, where the tenant has received some equivalent for the same. With these last words I must own I do not feel able to deal. I am not sure what they might mean. I do not know into what they might lead us; therefore, I could not give any pledge as to that. But, with regard to the first category, and likewise some other classes of land touched by the Amendment of my hon. Friend behind me, the hon. and gallant Member does not mean, I presume, to include cases in which the tenant has been evicted and a caretaker has been put in possession, but only those in which, by voluntary arrangement between the landlord and tenant, the tenant right has been bought up. There is also another class of cases which have not been mentioned in the debate, but which are strictly analogous in substance—cases where the converse process has occurred, and where the tenant has purchased the interest of the landlord. With regard to both these classes of cases, what we propose is to allow the parties interested to contract themselves out of the Act. That is what my hon. Friend suggests. As to demesne lands, none of these are subjected to the ordinary conditions of agricultural holdings, and we should propose to include them with the classes to which I have just referred in the clause, which would give freedom to contract out of the Act. That is applied to the whole mass of agricultural holdings in Ireland, and I do not think it would interfere with the general action of the Bill. I have much pleasure in so far meeting the views of the hon. and gallant Baronet; and if there is in the latter part of the clause anything that he thinks it material to propose, it will be fully considered. I would suggest the withdrawal of the Amendment, in order to insert in their proper place words making the clause, in certain instances, permissive.

saw, in the proposal to render the Act in certain cases permissive, the germ of an exceedingly grave danger. The spirit of the Bill was to throw a shield over the class who were not in position to make free contracts; and if they admitted the right to make free contracts, they would be abandoning the object of the Bill. Looking at the condition of the Irish tenantry, all contracts ought to be within the view of the equitable tribunal which the Government were setting up for the protection of the tenant. He could quite see that it might be right to meet some such case as this—that was to say, where the landlord had bonâ fide extinguished the tenant right. No one could pretend that the tenant should be paid twice over; but he would ask the Prime Minister to beware. He thought he should be able to show, in his humble way, that most inequitable written contracts were extorted from the tenants by the landlords. Knowing that the whole spirit of this Bill was so equitable, he trusted that the Prime Minister would accompany it by a safeguard framed in this spirit.

pointed ought that there might be cases where the landlord had purchased the tenant right 20 years ago, and where, since that time, there had come into existence a new tenant right of a different value, varying in kind and character, but still a right which ought to be protected—namely, the right of occupancy, with a reasonable expectation of its being continued, and that right fortified by the Compensation for Disturbance Clauses. There were, besides, the improvements which the industrious tenant from year to year created.

said, he understood from the Prime Minister that he did not accept the words proposed, and that the whole matter was to be left over for a new clause to come afterwards. He knew cases where the landlord had for many years given up all arrears of rent in order to prevent the sale of tenant right on his estate. For instance, a man might go out owing a deal of money to the landlord. He might say to the landlord—"I want to sell;" and the reply might be—"No, you shall not sell; but I will forgive you all your arrears, and you shall go out free." That had been done on a very large scale in Ireland; and although it might not be a distinct purchase of the tenant right out-and-out in form, yet it would be practically purchasing it. It ought to be quite clear that a case of this kind would not be lost sight of in the clause.

said, the Prime Minister had objected to the second part of the Amendment of his hon. and galland Friend, because he did not know how far it might lead; but if his hon. and gallant Friend would divide his Amendment into two, there would be no difficulty in accepting the first part. As to allowing the tenant to contract himself out of the Act, that concession did not seem to have any considerable weight, because if the Bill became law he failed to see what there was in the world to induce anyone to contract himself out of it. The tenant would be in a most advantageous position; and if it was proposed to him that he should contract himself out of the Bill, he would say—"I will see the landlord somewhere first." No one could propose that if a landlord had bonâ fide purchased tenant right, that the tenant should be paid for that right a second time.

said, that if, under the provisions of the Act of 1870, the landlord had purchased the tenant right, the Prime Minister was willing to bring up a clause to preserve and secure that contract. That was a statement of the case as it stood.

said, that, as he understood it, the Amendment proposed by the Government would only affect cases where, in the past, the landlord had bought up the tenant right—that was to say, cases since the passing of the Land Act. Was it also to apply to cases in the future where the landlord had, by voluntary arrangement with his tenant, purchased up the tenant right? ["No, no!"]

I do not wish to enter into this particular discussion; but I rise for the purpose of asking the Government whether they will be able, before we meet again after the Holidays, to lay on the Table the Amendment they really propose to submit to the House? We have now so far discussed the Bill as to raise, in a practical form, several of the difficulties that occurred to us in dealing with the question, and we have had promises from the Government that they will consider and endeavour to meet some of the difficulties so raised. It would be a great advantage to us if the Prime Minister would put the Amendments he proposes to make on the Paper—the Amendments he proposes to make either in the 7th clause or in any other part of the Bill. It is not unreasonable that we should be allowed, as soon as possible, to see the Amendments in print.

The request of my right hon. Friend is not unreasonable; but, at the same time, it is desirable to remember what progress we have actually made with the Bill. Before the Government proceed to stereotype any alteration of their views by laying Amendments on the Table, from which it would not be desirable for them subsequently to recede, we must be allowed to consider what ground we have made when we re-assemble to-morrow. Tomorrow, I will say all that I can, when I see the progress we have made to-night. As to creating a power, in the cases I have described, for contracting out of the operation of the clause, my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General for Ireland will be prepared to-morrow, or certainly before the House meets again after Whitsuntide, to lay on the Table the words of the proposal we shall make.

asked whether the provisions as to free sale would refer to town parks?

considered this an important Amendment; but he was not altogether satisfied with what the Prime Minister had stated. What they distinctly wanted to know was whether all who had purchased the tenant right in tenancies which now existed would be exempt from the provisions of free sale under this Bill? Future tenancies were altogether different from tenancies existing at the present moment in which solemn contracts had been made; and what was wanted was an explicit declaration from the Prime Minister that present tenants should not come under the provisions of the Bill. That was a clear and simple statement, and he felt sure the Prime Minister would see that, with a view to passing this Bill, it would be better to state plainly what he meant.

said, the hon. and gallant Baronet (Sir Walter B. Barttelot) seemed to think that if a man bought up the tenant right he could extinguish it for ever. That, however, was not so. Some years ago a man bought up the tenant right, and thought he was all right; but the land was sold, and the tenant right revived, and was as strong as ever. They might as well try to make water run up a hill as, by legislation, to prevent this or that. No matter what they did, tenant right would go on. The hon. and gallant Baronet seemed to think there were a great many estates in Ireland where the tenant right would be bought up; but he (Mr. Shaw) thought there were very few, and that in the future there would be fewer. No landlord would be such a fool as to spend his money in buying up tenant right, getting 1 or 1½ per cent for his money; he would rather leave the tenant right where it was, and put the money into some good outside investment.

hoped the Prime Minister would not accept the Amendment. He thought it would lead to great difficulty, possibly in some cases to great imposition, and that it would be much better to leave the matter to the Court.

objected to the proposal of the Prime Minister, and thought the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland was unreasonable. As he understood, they proposed to deal with this question under the 17th clause, and with a new Amendment. This Amendment proposed to deal with present tenancies, and there was not a single syllable to narrow it down to future tenancies. [The ATTORNEY GENERAL for IRELAND (Mr. Law): It includes both.] Then, there was no difference on the point; and if it included both, then the way in which present tenancies were to be dealt with was this—every contract in which a landlord had purchased or acquired, before the passing of this Bill, possession of the tenant right would be exempt. If that was not meant, then he failed to see how the Government proposed to deal with the question. The Government proposed to deal with the present Amendment in respect of both present and future tenancies. [The ATTORNEY GENERAL for IRELAND (Mr. Law): Only future tenancies.] It appeared, then, that the Government were going to deal with the Amendment as if it was absolutely confined to future tenancies, and to leave out of view present tenancies. Was it to be understood that under no circumstances whatever, no matter what were the privileges the landlord might have given, no matter how benevolent his conduct or how wide and generous his consideration for the tenant, the Government did not intend to deal with his control of free sale in any remedial form? If so, there had better be some further explanation. Was it to be understood that under no circumstances whatever was any present tenancy to be dealt with, no matter what the landlord had given to acquire the right to control free sale? [The ATTORNEY GENERAL for IRELAND (Mr. Law): Yes.] Then ho was prepared to wait for the way in which the Government proposed to deal with future tenancies. The Prime Minister had pointed out that it would be a hardship to exclude future tenancies from the benefits of this clause in cases were they had purchased from the last present tenant the right of occupation. He understood that the Government were prepared to deal with future tenants, and, therefore, there was no difficulty about that; but there was a difference of opinion as to present tenants.

stated, that the Government proposed to deal simply with future tenancies, and called attention to the fact that the whole matter arose from the Amendment of the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Brand), who wished to exclude all future tenancies from the Bill. The Government objected to that, and they did not propose to allow any present tenant now in occupation to exempt himself in any way from the operation of the Bill, unless it were a tenant who held above a limit of £150 a valuation. In cases where a landlord had bought up the Ulster tenant right, leaving the tenant in possession, the tenant right was, by the Act of 1879, extinguished, mid there was nothing in this Bill to revive it. The Irish tenant in possession at the time this Bill passed would be practically in the same position as the tenant in Ulster alone had hitherto been. He would have the same protection as the tenant in Ulster; his occupation rights were protected by the Act of 1870; and the Government did not intend in any way to enable the tenant whose Ulster Custom had been bought up to contract himself out of the provisions of the Bill, unless his valuation exceeded the proposed limit. Subject to this, all would be in the same position.

regarded the Amendment as being conceived in the spirit of the Emergency Committee. What was proceeding in Ireland now was that the landlords were going on evicting, and where they could not evict they bought up the tenant's interests. Forced sales, not in free auction, but surrounded by the police and the military, were taking place, and yet the hon. and gallant Baronet, while the country was in that condition, desired that the entire right of free sale should be extinguished. He appealed to the Government to remember that while making concessions to the opposite Party on the one hand, they were on the other storing up reser- voirs of future danger to themselves. It was those Gentlemen who had brought Ireland to its present state—by the policy of repression and keeping down the tenants at all times and on all hands, and by which, when an excellent Bill was brought forward, it was sought to minimize it in every direction, and which, if the Government made concessions, would whittle down the Bill to such an extent that it would not be worth the paper it was printed upon. If the Government wished their Bill to be successful, they must pay some regard to the wishes of those who were most interested in it. They had studiously held their tongues during this discussion, and in the course of about ten nights' debate on the last stage of the Bill, not three speeches had proceeded from that part of the House. The Bill had been in Committee four days, and how far had they got? Two lines. He was not one of those who approved very much of this Bill, and he would rather see it thrown out altogether; but what he complained of was, that while on the one hand liberty was being struck down in Ireland, on the other hand they would not get this Bill at all.

The hon. Member is speaking wide of the Amendment.

I think we should carefully endeavour to avoid mixing up the discussions on this Bill with references to the condition of Ireland. I assure the hon. Member, in the most perfect good faith, that we adhere to what we formerly declared. We desire to bring this Bill to the best possible success, and we shall accept fair discussion upon any fair Amendment, without regard to the quarter from which it may proceed. The hon. Gentleman, I am sure, will see that if we were to adopt a principle so unjust as to say to any particular Party—"We have a suspicion of your intentions, and decline to examine Amendments proceeding from you," we should only exasperate excited temper and lengthen the discussion. The right hon. and learned Gentleman (Mr. Gibson) has, I think, stated with accuracy that which is really the material part of the question raised by this Amendment—namely, that which relates to future tenancies; because, in my belief, with regard to present tenancies, the matter is so small as to be almost infinitesimal. But he will perceive the nature of the difficulty. We are anxious that nothing given by the Act of 1870 shall be taken away by this Act. But he says that where a landlord had purchased the Ulster right, the effect of that would be to throw the tenant back on the Act of 1870; so that whatever general rights he possesses under the general law he possesses notwithstanding the purchase of the right. We wish that the right should be purchased; but it would not be fair that the man should stand on an equal footing with the general tenants.

found it difficult to reconcile what the Prime Minister had just said with what he had previously said upon this Amendment. In his first speech, the Prime Minister said that in those cases where, under the Act of 1870, the tenant right had been bought up, the landlord and tenant should be under free contract. But, since that statement, the right hon. Gentleman and the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland had spoken again; and now it appeared that even when a landlord had, under the Act of 1870, bought up the right, he would not be under free contract. The landlord would have again to buy up the tenant right. Then there was this further question. His hon. and gallant Friend (Sir Walter B. Barttelot), he thought, believed the Prime Minister agreed with him a great deal more than he really did, since he supposed that if his Amendment was carried, the landlord, after buying up the tenant right, could not come under the provisions of the Bill. But all that the Prime Minister said, even with regard to future tenancies under those circumstances, was, not that the landlord and tenant would not come under the provision of the Bill, but that they would be able to contract themselves out of the Bill. That was altogether different, because, in order that the landlord and tenant should contract themselves out of the Bill, there must be something to give the tenant to induce him not to contract with the landlord not to come under the Bill; whereas, if the Amendment was carried, those landlords who had purchased the right would not be under the Bill at all. They would not be required to give any consideration, and by the operation of the Bill there would be no difficulty at all. The real fact was, that the Prime Minis- ter did not agree with the hon. and gallant Member as to present tenancies, and only in a modified degree as to future tenancies.

pointed out that if a landlord had bought up the tenant right, under the arrangement proposed by the Government, he would be free to deal with it as he pleased. But if he re-let it, the tenant would come under the Act of 1870, and have the right to compensation for disturbance. On the other hand, under the Act of 1870, he might contract out of the Act if the holding were above £50, or gave a lease recognized by the Act for 31 years. As the Bill now stood that would be saved by the provisions of the Bill. Either the tenant had acquired the right or already had it under the Act of 1870, or it was reserved to the landlord; and it seemed to him impossible that the Committee could settle the details of the arrangements the Government would make. He hoped the hon. and gallant Member would withdraw his Amendment on the understanding that the Government would re-consider the whole question and bring up a new clause.

said, he knew a number of cases in which the tenant right had been purchased up by the landlord with hard cash, and the farms re-let to new tenants on the understanding that tenant right was to be extinguished under the 2nd sub-section of the 1st clause of the Act of 1870, and that such holdings should cease henceforth to be subject to the tenant right custom. He understood the Prime Minister to agree to the first part of the Amendment of his hon. and gallant Friend (Sir Walter B. Barttelot); but, after some conversation with the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland (Mr. Law), he shifted his ground, and then stated that if a landlord had bought up the tenant right, the tenant would under the new Act be in the same position as the tenant in Munster; but he would be able, under Clause 1 of this Bill, to sell his holding, including the buildings and improvements of his landlord, to the highest bidder, and the landlord who had purchased the right under the Act of 1870 would have his purchase money confiscated. He had purchased the tenant right; he had re-let the farm as an English tenancy; and the Prime Minister might, with quite as much justice, confiscate a tenancy in Cheshire or Hampshire as to confiscate the tenant right purchased by the landlord under the Act of 1870. The Bill, as now drawn, confiscated such tenant right. He would read a letter which would explain the matter more clearly than he could. It was written by a Member of the Land Commission, who said—

"But when we come to remember there are landlords who have bought up the tenant right on their properties, and that this 1st clause will immediately take from them what they bought, and without any compensation hand it back to those from whom they bought it, an even more striking example of the grave injustice which it involves is presented to our minds. I have present in my mind the exceeding danger of the endorsement by the Government of such a principle of purposeless confiscation. To correct the clause and render it just in this respect, would in no appreciable degree restrict its scope. The number of holdings on which the tenant right has been bought up is not great, but their fewness does not mitigate the injustice."

That letter was written by a Gentleman upon whom the Prime Minister only the other night passed the greatest possible eulogy—namely, Mr. Kavanagh, one of the Members of the Bessborough Commission. He (Sir Thomas Bateson) knew many gentlemen who, on the faith of the Land Act of 1870, had so far placed confidence in the Prime Minister that they purchased up the tenant right on particular holdings, fondly imagining that no Minister of the Crown would, within 11 years, come down to this House and deliberately propose to confiscate property which he himself had created.

said, that to anyone who had taken the pains to consider the details of the Bill, speeches like the one they had just listened to were distracting, because they showed that an almost inconceivable misconception existed in respect to the Bill. Let him say what he understood the Prime Minister to say, because the utterances of the right hon. Gentleman had been pulled to pieces and read in various ways. It seemed to be forgotten by hon. Members that this discussion arose out of another discussion concerning future tenancies. It was essential to recollect that if they would correctly understand what the Prime had said. By a subsequent clause in the Bill the future tenant was, in the first instance, at all events, allowed freely to contract with his landlord; he must make the best terms he could with the landlord as to his holding. He understood the Prime Minister to say that one of the elements of an agreement in the case of a future tenancy would be an agreement between them; that previous to the passing of this Act the landlord had bonâ fides extinguished the tenant right from his holdings. If he was correct in the understanding that this matter related exclusively to future tenancies, and that it was only in that sense that what was called free contract existed, he did not think the observations just addressed to them had at all touched the subject. They were now discussing the tenant's right to sell whatever might be in him, and yet they had the hon. Baronet the Member for Devizes (Sir Thomas Batson) suggesting that when the landlord had bought the tenant right on any particular farm, the tenant under the Bill would be free to sell the right again. Such a thing was impossible. The tenant could only sell what was in him. Had the tenant nothing to sell but the occupation right? Supposing a landlord bought the occupation right, surely he would not prevent the tenant selling whatever else belonged to him?

said, they were getting rather deep, and he wanted to see if they could not prevent themselves getting deeper. The hon. and gallant Baronet (Sir Walter B. Barttelot) had done very good work in calling attention to this point. The hon. Member for Wexford (Mr. Healy) said just now they had had four nights' discussion on the Bill, but they had only got to the 3rd line of the 1st clause. That, of course, was literally true; but though they had only reached the 3rd line, they had raised in the discussion several very important questions, and they had shown what the difficulties were with which they had to deal; they had also got from the Government an acknowledgment, in general terms, that they were sensible of some of those difficulties, and to a certain extent they were prepared to meet them. Instead of fighting the Government in the dark, he would like to see their proposals upon paper. He at first thought the Government were prepared to agree with the greater part of the proposal of his hon. and gallant Friend—namely, that where a landlord had purchased the tenant right, they would recognize the purchase. He could quite understand that they might be prepared to recognize the principle, and yet not like to take the exact words of the Amendment. He was not sure that the Amendment, as now worded, might not raise difficulties with regard to the sale of improvements and other matters; and, therefore, it perhaps would be as well not to press the Amendment in its present form if they could get the principle admitted. It would then be understood that the Government would submit that principle to them in a form in which they could challenge and discuss it. The Government said they were ready to do this with regard to future tenances. The hon. Member for County Cork (Mr. Shaw) said they need not trouble themselves very much about the matter, because in the uncertainty which the Bill would involve they would not be likely to find landlords buying up tenant right or anything else. But with regard to persons who had to deal with the matter in future they had, after all, the question of caveat emptor. The Prime Minister seemed to think that very few persons would be affected, and that therefore it did not signify what injustice was done. They ought, in point of justice, to take their stand for the present on the proprietors who had, in some way or other, acquired the tenant right, as they all knew there were certain important and excellent landlords who had acquired the tenant right at very great sacrifice on their own part. They had acquired the right, and they ought to be protected. The words of his hon. and gallant Friend were not, perhaps, the best chosen, but words mattered little. If the Government admitted the contention upon which the words of the Amendment rested, his hon. and gallant Friend would be happy to leave them to choose their own words, and put them before the House.

understood the recommendation of the right hon. Gentleman (Sir Stafford Northcote) was not to take the issue on the present occasion, because the words of the Amendment did not appear to be quite accurate for the purpose. That was a matter, of course, with which he could not interfere; but he was always sorry to have long discussions without really deciding anything. He did not think the right hon. Gentleman opposite had any idea of the point at issue. He had said he knew cases of persons who had made very considerable sacrifices to acquire the tenant right. The real question they were discussing was not that of persons who had made sacrifices by keeping down rents or foregoing arrears, but of all the persons who had really purchased the right. [Several hon. MEMBERS: It is the same thing.] It was not the same thing; the two things were totally distinct. There were landlords, without doubt, who had charged less rent than they might; there were landlords who might have foregone arrears with direct or partially direct views towards the exclusion of the growth of tenant right upon their properties. But these cases were never touched in the debate on the Motion of the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr Brand), and they were not touched at all in the 1st part of the Amendment now before them. They belonged to a very different class, and the Government were endeavouring to provide for them in a different way. But the point which was not perceived by the right hon. Gentleman was perfectly perceived by the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for the University of Dublin (Mr. Gibson). It was with the purchase cases of present landlords only that the Committee had now to deal. He had said these purchase cases were few in number; in fact, he had not yet even heard of one. [Sir THOMAS BATESON: I know of several.] If the hon. Baronet would supply the Government with the particulars they would be very useful indeed, and should be inquired into very carefully. Let them suppose such cases existed. What had happened? They would be exclusively Ulster cases; and the Ulster landlord had purchased up the Ulster Custom, and he was encouraged to do that by the Act of 1870. By purchasing it up, the landlord extinguished the right, and it remained extinguished and would not be revived by the present Bill as it now stood. But that was not the whole of the transaction. If he got rid of the tenant, and let the farm afresh, he brought in a new tenant, which new tenant took the tenancy fortified by compensation for disturbance; and it was with regard to that new tenant that, in the name of justice, some people say we confiscate the property of the landlord. The Government, however, said—"Leave to the landlord the full effect of that which he bought up, and leave to the tenant that which the landlord in this very transaction left to him—namely, that he should take an occupancy which was kept fortified by compensation for disturbance." The Government considered that if there were individuals who liked to buy, they ought to be allowed to sell.

said, it seemed to him that his hon. Friends opposite were rather hard upon the Treasury Bench in regard to this matter. He was a party to the discussion the other evening upon the point raised by his hon. Friend (Mr. Brand), and it appeared to him there could be no strong complaint against the course adopted by the Prime Minister. The understanding which was entered into had been most honourably carried out. The point which his hon. Friend the Member for Stroud brought forward related purely to future tenancies, and to future tenancies alone; but the Amendment of his hon. and gallant Friend opposite (Sir Walter B. Barttelot) related to a totally different matter. He (Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice) could not quite find where, in the Land Act of 1870, the doctrine was contained which his right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General for Ireland had stated that night for the first time—namely, that when a landlord has, under the 2nd clause of the Land Act of 1870, bought up the Ulster Custom, or the value of a custom analogous to the Ulster Custom outside Ulster, thereupon the holding or the tenancy came within the Compensation for Disturbance Clause. He wished to point out to his right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General for Ireland that the 3rd clause strictly limited compensation for disturbance to cases upon estates outside Ulster, or upon estates where no custom analogous to the Ulster Custom existed.

said, he thought his noble Friend would not contradict him, when he (the Attorney General for Ireland) said that no lawyer had construed the Act in the way suggested. All the 1st and 2nd sub-sections of the 3rd clause did was to extinguish the peculiar usage in the particular holding.

could quite understand that if a landlord bought from the present tenant the right to sell, and if the tenant wished to go, he could not expect to be paid again. But supposing the landlord let the farm to another tenant, would that tenant have the right to sell? If he had not that right, the danger contemplated by the hon. Member for Wexford (Mr. Healy) would be very apparent—and that was, they would have landlords buying up the tenant right expressly to deprive future tenants of the right of sale.

said, a tenant of his brother's desired to go to America, and wanted to be bought out. It was decided he should have £800, and that was handed to him. The farm had been let to another man; and he (Mr. H. Thomson) would very much like to be informed by the Prime Minister under what clause his brother could be repaid the £800 he had paid to the last tenant?

replied, that if the hon. Member for Newry would supply him with particulars, he would cause an inquiry to be made into the case. He would not now say anything as to the prudence or imprudence of the transaction; but it appeared to him that the incoming tenant would be entiled to compensation for disturbance, and for such compensation people were ready to give money.

said, it would have been much more satisfactory if the right hon. Gentleman had explained whether, in a case of the sort referred to, a present tenant, under Clause 1, as it stood now, would have a right to sell his tenancy at the best price in the event of his going out of the farm. Although hon. Gentlemen opposite had argued as if there were only two cases—namely, one in which the landlord had purchased the tenant right and occupied the farm himself, and the other where he had re-let the farm, there was a third case which often happened in Ireland, and that was where the landlord had purchased the tenant right and let the farm. Where the tenant right had been bought by the landlord one day before the passing of the Bill, was the tenant the day after to have the right of re-selling the tenant right and to be paid twice over? That was a point upon which an answer should be given before the division was taken. Then the right hon. Gentleman said the cases were limited to Ulster. That was a point he (Mr. Chaplin) was not prepared to contest then, though he thought reference would show its existence outside Ulster. But, even if limited to Ulster, the right hon. Gentleman said—"Leave to landlords the right they have bought up from the tenant, and leave to tenants the right of compensation for disturbance;" but the principle of the Land Act was damaged for causeless eviction, nothing else. But how was it proposed to extend that now? It was proposed to give the tenant compensation for disturbance, even if not evicted at all. The sole right they had, under the Act of 1870, was for damages for causeless eviction, and now it was proposed to extend that right to compensation whether evicted or not.

said, a good deal of misapprehension existed as to the present state of the law and the effect of the Act of 1870 on the tenant right and custom of Ulster. It had been explained by the Prime Minister and the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland. (Mr. Law) several times that when the landlord had acquired the right, the custom became extinct, and did not again attach to the holding. He (Mr. Givan) did not agree with the hon. Member for Cork County (Mr. Shaw) that, no matter how the landlord purchased it, tenant right would attach to the holding again. It would not exist, owing to the express provision of the Act of 1870, which said as much. Then, if tenant right did not attach to the holding after it had been acquired by the landlord, the plain answer to the hon. Member for Mid Lincolnshire (Mr. Chaplin) was this—that a tenant could only afterwards sell what he had got; and he had not got tenant right, because the landlord would have purchased it. It was plain that if the tenant right was once extinguished it did not again attach to the holding; and the tenant, not having the tenant right to sell, could not sell under the Act. All he could sell was what he had got—that was, his interest in his tenure; but not the tenant right, when the landlord had bought it up. What he (Mr. Givan) understood the Prime Minister to say was, that present tenancies, where the tenant right had not already been purchased, should be exempted from any action of the landlord to acquire or appropriate it in future. He had known instances where the tenant, being a year's rent in arrear, was evicted for non-payment; and then the landlord insisted subsequently that by the eviction of the tenant and the loss of one year's rent, owing to the misfortunes of the tenant, that he (the landlord) had acquired the tenant right. But it had been held, on several occasions, that was not acquiring the tenant right. No one, however, on that side of the House would insist that the landlord having purchased the tenant right, that right again attached to the holding. The Land Act of 1870 settled that conclusively.