anon

“ Earnestly anxious though we are to see every reasonable security given to the Irish tenant-farmer, so that he may have every possible inducement to improve his farm and improve his own position we are as earnestly convinced that in many an individual case, and in many a wide-spread district, such security will be but the mere A B C of national progress. Other means are needed to reform the whole habits of a people. ”

“ Though we write from the landlord point of view, we feel no pang of envy of our landlord friends in England with their £2 10s per acre—a price which would pay us right well here even if we did all the building, draining, and so forth for our tenants. But we do feel a pang of regret at the thought that, from whatever cause, so many of our Irish small farmers, in place of being better of with their moderate rents, are worse off ”

“ On the small farms—say of nine or ten acres, let as high as £3 per acre for the best soil—the landlord thatched and otherwise repaired the dwelling-house, the tenant repairing the offices. If a new house were wanted on an unleased farm of this size, the landlord would build it, entering into a new contract with the tenant, and charging interest on his outlay, subject to the same modifications as in a leased farm. If the tenant wished to build himself, he would be allowed to do so, if he would build in accordance with the "office plans." ”