| Show NOTES THE OP THE when I 1 wae a boy the irish tenant waa in the main mero berf denied all political rights he bad no legal right to hie own property in the eoll it he built hie own home which was usually the case it belonged belon zed to the landlord it he reclaimed drained or fenced his land it waa mainly done on the security of a yearly tenancy and he was liable to eviction and he wae often evicted without a farthing far ot compensation hence the the demand in the forties and fittler by the clearoe of north and bouth men like baarman crawford gavan duffy and combined for one purpose they asked for security of tenure and legal protection for the property of the tenant truly a moderated and a modest demand bat what fate waited it sir joseph napier the representative of trinity college and the irish attorney general in lord derbys administration introduced a bill in 1851 which met fairly and might have settled ibe jaee tion tor a generation but the irish landlords would have none of it the bill perished reasonable reform was refused the lapse of halt a century has brought loss and trouble ending with revolution the revolution commenced with mr Glad stones bill of 1870 it was practically completed by the acts of 1881 and 1887 these areat measures buffered severely in the irish courts but the merely committee of 1894 the clear light of day upon the actual facts paved the way for and rendered absolutely necessary the act of 1896 by which many of the decisions of the irish court of appeal however right they may have been in strict law were reversed ae being against public policy and the intention of parliament with the result that the tenants advocate no longer feels when he eaters the court that is treading on a series ot trapdoors from the unionists have done for ireland ayt W russell M P secretary of the local government board in north american review for august |
