Irish History And The Irish Question Part 9

"And whereas such settlement can only be effected upon a basis mutually satisfactory to the owners and occupiers of the land,

"And whereas certain representatives of owners and occupiers have been desirous of endeavouring to find such basis, and for that purpose have met in conference together,

"And whereas certain particulars of agreement have been formulated, discussed, and pa.s.sed at the conference, and it is desirable that the same should be put into writing and submitted to his Majesty's government,

"After consideration and discussion of various schemes submitted to the conference, we are agreed:--

"1. That the only satisfactory settlement of the land question is to be effected by the subst.i.tution of an occupying proprietary in lieu of the existing system of dual owners.h.i.+p.

"2. That the process of direct interference by the State in purchase and resale is in general tedious and unsatisfactory; and that, therefore, except in cases where at least half the occupiers or the owners so desire, and except in districts included in the operations of the congested districts board, the settlement should be made between owner and occupier, subject to the necessary investigation by the State as to t.i.tle, rental, and security.

"3. That it is desirable in the interests of Ireland that the present owners of land should not as a result of any settlement be expatriated, or, having received payment for their land, should find no object for remaining in Ireland, and that as the effect of a far-reaching settlement must necessarily be to cause the sale of tenancies throughout the whole of Ireland, inducements should, wherever practicable, be afforded to selling owners to continue to reside in that country.

"4. That for the purpose of obtaining such a result, an equitable price ought to be paid to the owners, which should be based upon income.

"Income, as it appears to us, is second term rents--including all rents fixed subsequent to the pa.s.sing of the Act of 1896--or their fair equivalent.

"5. That the purchase price should be based upon income as indicated above, and should be either the a.s.surance by the State of such income, or the payment of a capital sum producing such income at three per cent or at three and one-fourth per cent, if guaranteed by the State, or if the existing powers of trustees be sufficiently enlarged.

"Costs of collection where such exist, not exceeding ten per cent, are not included for the purpose of these paragraphs in the word 'income.'

"6. That such income or capital sum should be obtainable by the owners:--

"(_a_) Without the requirement of capital outlay upon their part, such as would be involved by charges for proving t.i.tle to sell. Six years'

possession, as proposed in the bill brought forward in the session of 1902, appears to us a satisfactory method of dealing with the matter.

"(_b_) Without the requirement of outlay to prove t.i.tle to receive the purchase money.

"(_c_) Without unreasonable delay.

"(_d_) Without loss of income pending reinvestment.

"(_e_) And without leaving a portion of the capital sum as a guarantee deposit.

"7. That, as a necessary inducement to selling owners to continue to reside in Ireland, the provision of the bill introduced by the chief secretary for Ireland in the session of 1902 with regard to the purchase of mansion houses, demesne lands, and home farms by the State, and resale by it to the owners, ought to be extended.

"8. We suggest that in certain cases it would be to the advantage of the State as insuring more adequate security, and also an advantage to owners in such cases, if upon the purchase by the State of the mansion house and demesne land and resale to the owner, the house and demesne land should not be considered a security to the mortgages.

"9. That owners wis.h.i.+ng to sell portions of grazing land in their own hands for the purpose of enlarging neighbouring tenancies should be ent.i.tled to make an agreement with the tenants, and that in the event of proposed purchase by the tenants such grazing land may be considered as part of the tenancies for the purpose of purchase.

"10. That, in addition to the income, or capital sum producing the income, the sum due for rent from the last rent day till the date of the agreement for purchase and the hanging gale should be paid by the State to the owner.

"11. That all liabilities by the owner which run with the land, such as head-rents, quit-rents, and t.i.the-rent charge, should be redeemed, and the capital sum paid for such redemption deducted from the purchase money payable to the owner. Provided always that the price of redemption should be calculated on a basis not higher, as regards annual value, than is used in calculating the purchase price of the estate. In any special cases where it may have to be calculated upon a different basis, the owner should not suffer thereby. Owners liable to drainage charges should be ent.i.tled to redeem same upon equitable terms, having regard to the varying rates of interest at which such loans were made.

"12. That the amount of the purchase money payable by the tenants should be extended over a series of years, and be at such a rate, in respect of princ.i.p.al and interest, as will at once secure a reduction of not less than fifteen per cent, or more than twenty-five per cent on second term rents or their fair equivalent, with further periodical reductions as under existing land purchase acts until such time as the treasury is satisfied that the loan has been repaid. This may involve some a.s.sistance from the State beyond the use of its credit, which, under circ.u.mstances hereinafter mentioned, we consider may reasonably be granted. Facilities should be provided for the redemption at any time of the purchase money or part thereof by payment of the capital or any part thereof.

"13. That the hanging gale, where such custom exists, should be included in the loan and paid off in the instalments to be paid by the purchasing occupier, and should not be a debt immediately recoverable from the occupier, but the amount of rent ordinarily payable for the period between the date when the last payment fell due and the date of agreement for sale should be payable as part of the first instalment.

"14. That counties wholly or partly under the operations of the congested districts board, or other districts of a similar character (as defined by the Congested Districts Board Acts and by section four, clause one, of Mr.

Wyndham's Land Purchase Amendment Bill of last session), will require separate and exceptional treatment with a view to the better distribution of the population and of the land, as well as for the acceleration and extension of these projects for migration and enlargement of holdings which the congested districts board, as at present const.i.tuted and with its limited powers, has. .h.i.therto found it impossible to carry out upon an adequate scale.

"15. That any project for the solution of the Irish Land Question should be accompanied by a settlement of the evicted tenants' question upon an equitable basis.

"16. That sporting and riparian rights should remain as they are, subject to any provisions of existing Land Purchase Acts.

"17. That the failure to enforce the Labourers Acts in certain portions of the country const.i.tutes a serious grievance, and that in districts where, in the opinion of the local government board, sufficient accommodation has not been made for the housing of the labouring cla.s.ses, power should be given to the local government board, in conjunction with the local authorities, to acquire sites for houses and allotments.

"18. That the principle of restriction upon subletting might be extended to such control as may be practicable over resales of purchasers' interest and mortgages, with a view to maintaining unimpaired the value of the State's security for outstanding instalments on loans.

"And whereas we are agreed that no settlement can give peace and contentment to Ireland or afford reasonable and fair opportunity for the development of the resources of the country, which fails to satisfy the just claims of both owners and occupiers,

"And whereas such settlement can only be effected by the a.s.sistance of the State, which, as a principle, has been employed in former years,

"And whereas it appears to us that, for the healing of differences and the welfare of the country, such a.s.sistance should be given, and can be given, and can effect a settlement without either undue cost to the treasury or appreciable risk with regard to the money advanced, we are of opinion that any reasonable difference arising between the sum advanced by the State, and ultimately repaid to it, may be justified by the following considerations:--

"That for the future welfare of Ireland, and for the smooth working of any measure dealing with the transfer of land, it is necessary:--

"1. That the occupiers should be started on their new career as owners on a fair and favourable basis, insuring reasonable chances of success, and that in view of the responsibilities to be a.s.sumed by them they should receive some inducement to purchase.

"2. That the owners should receive some recognition of the facts that selling may involve sacrifice of sentiment, that they have already suffered heavily by the operation of the land acts, and that they should receive some inducement to sell.

"3. That for the benefit of the whole community it is of the greatest importance that income derived from sale of property in Ireland should continue to be expended in Ireland.

"And we further submit that, as a legitimate setoff against any demand upon the State, it must be borne in mind that, upon the settlement of the land question in Ireland, the cost of administration of the law and the cost of the Royal Irish Constabulary would be materially and permanently lessened.

"We do not, at the present time, desire to offer further recommendations upon the subject of finance which must necessarily be regulated by the approval of the government to the principles of the proposals above formulated except that, in our opinion, the principles of reduction of the sinking fund in the event of loss to the State by an increase of the value of money should be extended by the inclusion of the principle of increase of the sinking fund in favour of the purchasers in the event of gain to the State by decrease in the value of money.

"Inasmuch as one of the main conditions of success in reference to any land purchase scheme must be its prompt application and the avoidance of those complicated investigations and legal delays which have hitherto clogged all legislative proposals for settling the relations between Irish landlords and tenants, we deem it of urgent importance that no protracted period of time should ensue before a settlement based upon the above-mentioned principles is carried out; that the executive machinery should be effective, competent, and speedy, and that investigations conducted by it should not entail cost upon owner or occupier; and, as a further inducement to despatch, we suggest that any state aid, apart from loans which may be required for carrying out a scheme of land purchase as herein proposed, should be limited to transactions initiated within five years after the pa.s.sing of the act.

"We wish to place on record our belief that an unexampled opportunity is at the present moment afforded his Majesty's government of effecting a reconciliation of cla.s.ses in Ireland upon terms which, as we believe, involve no permanent increase of Imperial expenditure in Ireland; and that there would be found on all sides an earnest desire to cooperate with the government in securing the success of a Land Purchase Bill, which, by effectively and rapidly carrying out the principles above indicated, would bring peace and prosperity to the country.

"Signed at the Mansion House, Dublin, this third day of January, 1903.

"DUNRAVEN (_Chairman_) JOHN REDMOND "MAYO WM. O'BRIEN "W. H. HUTCHESON POE T. W. RUSSELL "NUGENT T. EVERARD T. C. HARRINGTON"

It soon transpired that the idea of a conference between landlords' and tenants' representatives was the government plan for laying the foundation of the bill that they contemplated introducing as a government measure later on. The tenants' representatives, who, in the then position of the land question, with prices falling and the third revision term looming in the distance, had all the trumps in their hands, were hopelessly outmanoeuvred by the landlord section.

The question to be discussed was largely a financial one, but still the tenants had not a man of financial ability at the board. It is true the members of the conference were nominated, and not selected by their respective sides, though afterwards, for reasons easily understood, the nominations were ratified by the parties concerned. But nominated by whom?

By a Captain Shawe Taylor, a personage popular with all parties, but in this matter undoubtedly the agent of the government. The conference sat five times, and all through the proceedings the nationalist representatives were rubbing their hands with glee, for they thought the millennium had come.

The landlord party, on the other hand, were in nightly communication with the Castle. Treasury experts were drafted over to Dublin, and no stone was left unturned to secure for the landlords a measure which would satisfy the most exacting. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. On the 3d of January, 1903, the land conference issued its report. Clear-headed politicians saw at once that the tenants had played the game and lost.

Every advantage or benefit that the landlord sought or claimed was secured to him by this treaty, as it was afterwards styled, in terms that could not be gainsaid. The tenants' clauses in the report were mostly pious expressions of opinion, which were afterwards, when the Land Bill came to be drafted, brushed aside, or quietly ignored. But all was not yet lost.

The _Freeman's Journal_, under the able guidance of Mr. Thomas s.e.xton, in a series of powerful articles, reviewed the whole position. It boldly but temperately pointed out the defects in the conference report. It refused to shout with the crowd. It could not see that much was gained. It clearly saw that a great deal had been lost. The bill, a large and complicated measure of eighty-nine clauses, was shortly afterwards introduced. It was a great measure and aimed at the final settlement of the land question.

And, indeed, such an end, devoutly to be wished, would certainly have been attained had the amendments pressed on the government during the pa.s.sage of the bill by the organ of the tenants been accepted and embodied in the act.

Clause after clause was closely examined, and the defects exposed by Mr.

s.e.xton in a series of articles, inspired if not actually written by him in the _Freeman_. He had done much service for Ireland in the past, but I doubt if his great abilities had ever been better applied than to the work of examination, elucidation, and amendment of the Land Bill of 1903.