Show THE IRISH LAND BILL Gladstones Scheme to Uenefit thejrish Tenants ARRAIGNMENT l OF ABSENTEES With Power In Our Hand lie Have Looked on and Done Nothing Oladiton Irlth Land Kill LOSDOX April 161 Gladstone propounded pro-pounded his Irish land bill to the House of Commons this evening There was hardly any excitement attending the event compared with the enthusiasm enthusi-asm which attended the memorable proceeding of yesterday week when the home rule measure was proposed At noon today but ninety seats on the floor of the House had been hatted and these were nearly all taken by Irish members At 4 oclock the House was crowded to its utmost capacity Mr Gladstone rosa in his place at 52i p in and was greeted with cheers When he began to speak his voice was low and husky He said the aim of the present endeavors of government dIrected towards securing contentment among the people of Ireland and a per nunent restoration of the social order The speakers proposals would nreally benefit the tenants of Ireland but the landlords were the principal object of the measure although he thought that many of these landlords were the most hostile to the governments policy At the outset the speaker wished to make an emphatic dental that it was his intention in-tention to ask the Scotch and English to run any pecuniary risk on account of the landlords of Ireland The history his-tory of Ireland waSone long indictment against its landowners Agrarian crime had originated and increased under the absenteeism landlords and the raising of rents as their expenses while away from Ireland increased Oppression wedded to misery had a hideous progeny pro-geny Crime had been endowed with vitality to perpetuate itself and hand down its miserable inheritance from generation to generation England was not clear of responsibility for the deeds of the Irish landlordsthey were English deeds With the powerln our hands we have looked on and done nothing After the union of absenteeism absen-teeism became general the national l sentiment cease to hive a beneficial influence on the relations between be-tween landlords and tenants The union itself was R obtained against the Sense and wish of every class by wholesale bribery and unblushing intimidation The land act was intended to go into effect on the came day on which the home rule bill would become operative It could not go on without the operation of the other which would provide legislature in Ireland to appoint statutory authority author-ity to deal with the landed estates and lie act between vendor and purchaser Purchases would be made through the issue of 160000000 Of 3 per cent stock Issued at par These new Irish consols might with the consent of the treasury be commuted for stock of lower denomination If the stock could be issued forthwith scrip of equal value would be issued for the same purpose The act was to give the landlords the option to sell out Under it actions were confined to agricultural agri-cultural holdings and did not include mansions having demesne and woods The state authorities acting between peasants and land owners would purchase land from the latter and put the peasant in possession asa as-a Solute proprietor subject to an annul an-nul rent charge until the total payments pay-ments equaled the purchase money The State would not force small occupants occu-pants to become proprietors In tho districts where the population was congested the State would have power to decide whether the expropriation expropria-tion of toocrowded land should be compulsory com-pulsory Nobody except immediate landlords would have the option to sell to the incumbrancer and then he must sell by forfeiture and not at an option far himself Applications to sell would have to be made by all the tenants on the estate and all these applications and sales would be registered regis-tered The applicants would be required to give security for the costs in certain cases The land commission would be empowered to refuse applications The bases of the prices would depend upon ie rental for fixed prices The judicial judi-cial rental of IMS would be the standard in all cases wherein the rent of the land to be sold was then fixed in all other cases the land commission would have power to arrive at the price by compar ng the other judicial rentals with the Griffiths valuations The land com mlS ion would also be allowed to examine the state of the books concerning estate ± for ten years back Twenty years rental would be the nominal purchase In exceptional excep-tional cases twentytwo years rental would make the purchase Applications Applica-tions for sale would not be receiyed after March 1st 1800 Ten millions of pounds of stock would be Issued during 1837 20000000 in 1883 20000000 in 1839 and 20000000 In each of the two succeeding year When the proposals were first placed before the speakers colleagues he proposed pro-posed to raise 130000000 Immediately Chamberlain and Trevelyan objected to IHsTSrx wholesale issue which would depreciate values The speaker therefore there-fore thanked both gentlemen for having given him occasion to reconsider re-consider that original proposition He now thought it was an error to ask forthwith for anything believe like the outside estimate and believed that by appointing a receiver for general authority eral rents armed with sufficient authority author-ity to collect them but without corning into contact with the new proprietory the repayment of the purchase money would be amply secured The charge upon the Irish exchequer would be 2000000 per annum to meet which it would be able to levy for rents amounting to 2 00900 per annum and this sum would be the first charge on the rents and taxes raised by the Irish government Adding to this the imperial contribution and the sum paid to England by Ireland Ire-land it would not be applied to any purpose until 000000 was paid into the English exchequer The present contribution con-tribution of the Irish taxpayers to Eng land was 0030000 of which England paid back in Irish civil service and in service of collection L 4340000 The residue which seemed to represent imperial contribution for the army navy national debt and imperiAl civil charges was 2033000 What did England do with it As an instance she sent an army of 26000 men to Ireland and kept them there at an annual cost of 3000000 915000 more than the balance mentioned That was a specimen speci-men of the economy of the system the speaker wanted to root up Mr Gladstone Glad-stone commended the scheme to the strict jealous careful unbiased examination amination of Englishmen He was t convinced that it would be recognized I as a fitting part of the great auspicious effort to sustain the plans of the British legislature for the welfare of what had long been and the speaker hoped would I ever be under circumstances far happier hap-pier than heretofore an integral part of Her Majestys dominions Mr Gladstone Glad-stone spoke for an hour and thirtyfive minutes and concluded amid great applause Mr Gladstones proposals do not imply a new issue of 0000000 in 3 percents but of only 50000000 from 180100000 in new threes already authorized Following Gladstone Mr Chamber ain read a letter which he sent to Mr Gladstone tendering resignation as a member of the Cabinet In theletter Ir Chamberlain stated that Mr Gladstones policy would throw a heavy burden on Great Britain entailiug an enormous addition to the national dent probably an immediate increase of taxation not to secure a union of the Kingdom but to purchase a separation Mr Chamberlain then went on to say that the land proposals although they bad been modified since he had left the Cabinet would still im < ose a great burden upon Great Britain without with-out a sufficient security for the loans advanced The bill was calculated not so much to benefit the tenants as sop For the landlords Although only 50 000 001 was to be issued the option to sell was offered to the land owners holding hold-ing land valued at 150000 Supposing that a full number of options to sell should be accepted how would all the money be provided He opposed the Dill on principle because it specially protected the landlords If the Irish hmentth nt Parliament was to be entrusted with the protection of commercial clasps and the maintenance of social order why could it not be trusted to protect the landlords T The government was thrusting on Ireland a burden which no Irish member could declare to be a fair price to give for the landlords land-lords rights Cheers The Irish people peo-ple would regard the bargain as one Imposed br n foreign county and would justified in taking the first opportunity oppor-tunity to repudiate it If the bargain should be repudiated how would It be enforced The government govern-ment could not disregard the risk to British taxpayers Under an increasing increas-ing depression in trade hundreds of thousands of hard workers in England would probably be thrown out of employment em-ployment While refusing to assist the deserving crofters in Scotland and postponing the claims of the English laborer could government consistently grant large sums for the benefit of the frant Irish peasantry Cheers In conclusion Mr Chamberlain said he was not an irreconcileable opponent of Mr Gladstones policy If the land proposals should be sufficiently modified modi-fied he would be happy to be relieved of the duty of continuing his > present attitude opposition Parnell said that not having had Mr Chamberains advantages of a Cabinet seat he was not prepared to express a confident opinion upon the merits and demerits of the scheme until he had seen the provisions of the bill Mr Chamberlain had spoken in deservedly complimentary terms of Mr Davut and had expressed a desire to know the latters opinion of the landpurchase bill Mr Parnell assured Chamberlain that Davitt would not act from a motive of personal spite or jealousy Parnellite cheers but solely out of regard for Ireland To peakeritappeared that the appointment appoint-ment of a receivergeneral was unnecessary unneces-sary and absurdbecauseaccording to the promised statement the receipts from the customs and excise duties in Ireland Ire-land will amount to within 2003Oof the total amount payable by Ireland to the imperial exchequer Would it note > not-e sufficient security if England took alien lien upon the revenue collected by Irish authority In the event of the customs failing to yield a sum sufficient to meet the imperial charges The appointment of a receivergeneral would be most offensive to Ireland because be-cause it would show a reluctance to trust Irishmen even for ouch a small sum as 20000 The objectof the Irish members was not to make the measure a party question but by yielding as much as possible to settle once and for all this troublesome ana difficult mat I tar thir the Irish landlords threw out the measure he hoped the offer to assist them wish English credit would not be renewed but that the bill for the government gov-ernment ot Ireland would be pressed forward by itself Mr Morley announced that the bill would be in themembershsnds on Monday Mon-day Permission was given to introduce the bill and the second reading was fixed for May 13th 1 |