certainly never by the Chief Secretary. It might be that it would have an effect on political movements in Ireland; it might be that it would unite classes hitherto divided; it might be that it would disentangle political questions from future controversies about land, and bring about a calm and reasonable way of discussing these questions. That might be, and he hoped it would be. But no one would be aggrieved if it did less. The Act was not intended as a final settlement, but only as the great beginning of the settlement of the land question; and many things had to be left out of it last year because it was undesirable to overload it. The Chief Secretary had said that three months after the Act came into operation was too soon to consider its Amendment; but he then proceeded to promise that on an early day he would introduce a Bill to make some Amendments! Therefore, the difference between the Chief Secretary and the Irish Members was not one of principle or time, but only one of degree. He did not intend to enter into technical points, but he had been impressed by the remarks of several hon. Members from Ireland as to the apparent rise in the price of land, or the price expected for land. He could not help thinking that there was a possibility of the zones system resulting in defeating the successful working of the Act, because that system might induce people to stand out for a higher price. The question of price was of the very essence of the working of the Act, and he had always felt that sooner or later a larger measure of compulsion would be required to complete the work of the Act. SIR EDWARD GREY said that the Solicitor-General for England said "No, no!" to that, but he went further. He considered that the provision of a cheaper and more rapid method of working a compulsory system of land purchase was to be desired and expected not only of Ireland but for home as well. That was one of the problems we would have to solve soon. He thought that before they completed and settled the Irish system they would have at any rate to keep an open mind with regard to the introduction of compulsion. He did not wish to hustle the Chief Secretary, if he might use a fashionable phrase, but he did feel that steady pressure was justifiable and desirable; and he was not sure that the Chief Secretary himself did not feel that steady pressure sometimes strengthened his own hands. He looked upon the Act of last session-and he gave the Chief Secretary and the Government fuli credit for it as a great beginning, but it was not yet the end. The Government had it in trust to see that the Act He was not surprised that was a success. experience had already suggested some Amendments to that Act. He hoped experience would suggest further Amendments. He trusted that the Chief Secretary would keep an open mind with regard to future Amendments while he was in office, because he was sure that his own Government or any future Government would have to introduce further Amendments from time to time in the working of the Act, and he hoped he would carry that open mind with him if it ever should be his fate to cross the floor of the House and give a frank and sympathetic support to the Amendments which might come from the Government which succeeded him. MR. T. P. O'CONNOR (Liverpool, Scotland) said he felt it almost a rudeness to try and wake up the House from the dream which the eloquence of the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary was calculated to excite. The whole tone of the speech of the right hon. Gentleman showed an absolute want of appreciation of the real state of Ireland at the present moment. They had been accustomed to Chief Secretaries of all Parties coming to the House and picturing Ireland as a perfect Paradise of almost unbroken peace on the very eve of an outbreak of agrarian discontent. He warned the House that they should not regard Ireland from the point of view of the lotuseater, but study the real conditions of the country. They had had a most disastrous season. He believed that in England the land question would be settled, on right and just lines, by a compromise on the part of both tenants and landlords. On the other hand, in Ireland the landlord was the spoilt child of legislation, though the hon. Gentleman opposite would say that they were the despoiled children of legislation. But it required all the machinery of agitation and courts of law to compel them to give the reduction of rent which every decent landlord here gave to his tenants. By last year's Act the Irish landlords were actually paid for selling their land at a very good price. If any landlord in England was offered a price for his land equal to 90 per cent. of the gross rental, he would at once jump at it, and invest the money in industrial enterprises in this country. At the present moment the landlords of Ireland, instead of meeting the situation caused by the disastrous season in a reasonable manner, were offering their land for sale at zones prices, which no tenant ought to entertain, and which no tenant would entertain unless he took leave of his senses. Arrears were playing their ancient part in Ireland, and their old friend the hanging gale had once more raised his sinister head, and was being used by the landlord for the purpose of extracting an extravagant price from the tenant. All over the country there was a feeling of disappointment at the working of the Act, and of strong indignation against the landlords. The right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary said he had nothing to do with the price. Was the right hon. Gentleman not the author of the zones section of the Act? The zones were in the Act for the purpose of inflating the price in Ireland. Members on these Benches had told the right hon. Gentleman so last year till they almost imperilled the Bill. When the right hon. Gentleman put up his blunderbuss at their heads, what choice had they but to accept what he offered? Three or four years ago a landlord went to the Land Commission and said that he and his tenants had agreed that his estate should be sold for eighteen years purchase, but the Land Commission declared that they would not sanction eighteen years purchase, because it was unfair to the tenants and to the estate. Now, however, the same landlord was asking Abraham, William (Cork, N. E. | Hardie,J. Keir (M'rthyr Tydvil) Ainsworth, John Stirling Ambrose, Robert Bayley, Thomas (Derbyshire) Brunner, Sir John Tomlinson Campbell, John (Armagh, S.) Condon, Thomas Joseph Crooks, William Delany, William Devlin, Chas. Ramsay (Galway Ellice, Capt E.C(SAndrw'sBghs Ffrench, Peter Field, William Flavin, Michael Joseph Gladstone, Rt. Hn. Herbert Jn. Gurdon, Sir W. Brampton Harmsworth, R. Leicester Law, Hugh Alex. (Donegal, W. MacDonnell, Da Mark A. M'Killop, W. (Sligo, North) O'Mara, James Redmond, John E. (Waterford) Roberts, John Bryn (Eifion) Roe, Sir Thomas Samuel, Herbert L. (Cleveland) Shackleton, David James Shaw, Charles Edw. (Stafford) Thomas, D. Alfred (Merthyr) TELLERS FOR THE AYES-Sir Thomas Esmonde and Captain Donelan. Bhownaggree, Sir M. M. Blundell, Colonel Henry Brymer, William Ernest Davenport, William Bromley Godson, Sir Augustus Fredk. Gray, Ernest (West Ham) Heath, James (Staffords., N.W. Hope, J.F(Sheffield, Brightside Houston, Robert Paterson Hutton, John (Yorks., N. R.) Keswick, William Main Question again proposed. And, it being after Midnight, the Pierpoint, Robert Smith, Abel H. (Hertford, East) Stanley, Hn. Arthur (Ormskirk Tufnell, Lieut.-Col. Edward TELLERS FOR THE NOES-Sir Alexander Acland - Hood and Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes. Debate to be resumed to-morrow. Speech indicates revision by the Member. An Asterisk (*) at the commencement of a Mid-Cheshire Tramways Bill [H.L.]. Presented, and read 1a. [H.L.]; Manchester Corporation Tramways Bill [H.L.]; Mersey Docks and Harbour Board Bill [H.L.]; Milwr and District Mines Drainage Bill [H.L.]; Minehead Urban District Council Water Bill [H.L.]; Newcastle-upon-Tyne Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Nuneaton and Chilvers Coton Urban District Council Bill [H.L.]; Oakengates, Dawley, and District Joint Water Board Bill [H.L.]; Ulster Electric The LORD CHANCELLOR acquainted the Power Bill [HL.]; Weaver Navigation House that the Clerk of the Parliaments and Blackburn Tramways Bill [H.L.]; (Additional Finance) Bill [H.L.]; Preston had laid upon the Table the Certificates from the Examiners that the further Weaver Navigation (Constitution and Standing Orders applicable to the follow- Finance) Bill [H.L.]; Withnell Gas Bill ing Bills have been complied with. Man- [H.L.]; Lancashire Electric Power Bill chester Ship Canal (Finance) [H.L.]; [H.L.]; West Riding Tramways Bill Manchester Ship Canal [H.L.; Young [H.L.]; Cambrian Railways Bill [H.L.]; and Bell's Patents [H.L.]; Southport and Tynemouth Gas Bill [H.L.]; Neath, PontarLytham Tramroad (Extension of Time) dawe, and Brynaman Railway Bill [H.L.]; H.L.; Gosport Water [H.L.]; New River Tyneside Tramways and Tramroads Bill Company [H.L.]; New Zealand Loan and [H.L.]; Barry Railway (Steam Vessels) Mercantile Agency Company [H.L.]. The Bill [H.L.]: Harlow and Sawbridgeworth same were ordered to lie on the Table. Gas Bill [H.L.]; York Town and Blackwater Gas Bill [H.L]; Matlock and District Gas Bill [H.L.]; Portmadoc, Beddgelert, and South Snowdon Railway Bill [H.L.]; Great Western Railway Bill [H.L.]. Committed. The Committees to be proposed by the Committee of Selection. Ilford Urban District Council Bill [HL]; Lothians Electric Power Bill [H.L; Barnard Castle Gas Bill [H.L.]; Cardiff Railway Bill [H.L.J. Read 2a, and committed. The Committees to be proposed by the Committee of Selection. Appleby Corporation Gas Bill [H.L.]; Bournemouth Corporation (Tramways) Bill [H.L.]; Chesterfield Gas and Water Board Bill [H.L.]; Filey Improvement Bill [H.L.]; Preston Corporation Water Bill [H.L.]; Shipley Urban District Council Bill H.L.]; South Staffordshire Mines PETITION. LOCAL AUTHORITIES (QUALIFICATION OF WOMEN) BILL [H.L.] Petition in favour of; of Corporation Drainage Bill [H.L.]; Tynemouth Corpora- of Lewisham; read, and ordered to lie on tion Bill [H.L.]; Barry Railway (Exten- the Table. sion of Time, etc.) Bill [H.L.]; Westonsuper-Mare Grand Pier Bill [H.L.]. Committed. RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC. NAVY (NEW SCHEME OF TRAINING). Barrow-in-Furness Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Bridlington Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Bristol Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Buxton Urban District Council Bill [H.L.] Chesterfield Corporation (Tramways and Improvements) Bill [H.L.]; Derwent view Committee on the selection of as candidates for nomination Valley Water Board Bill [H.L.]; Ebbw Vale Urban District Water Bill Cadets. Prsenteed (by Command), and (H.L.]; Harrogate Waterworks Tramroad ordered to lie on the Table. Bill [H.L.]; Holywood Tramways Bill [H.L.]; Huddersfield Corporation Act, 1902 (Amendment) Bill [H.L.]; Ipswich LOAN SOCIETIES. Naval Abstract of accounts of loan societies Dock Commission Bill [H.L.]; Leeds Cor- in England and Wales furnished to the poration (Waterworks) Railway Bill VOL. CXXX. [FOURTH SERIES.] Central Office for the Registry of Friendly |