THE GLENBEIGH EVICTIONS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1522, 1 April 1887, Page 3

THE GLENBEIGH EVICTIONS.

"Daily Chouicle." It has baen our practice to take the par! of the weak and oppressed againnt th« tyrannical and tha strong and whntevf may bo the truth about the Gtaribuigh evictions,- we are not going to n^y on* word agwnafc thn vmbappy rersom who have been turned out of their house and hom9 fn the depth of wnter. Whether they wera tenants or rq'iatters who had taken possession of the land without title or permission, their sad oate is calculated to rouse the sympathy of men of all parties Indignation meetings, moreover, to be held m Jhe tit James's Hull, have been spoken of, and Mr Stauitfiild has been mentioned as likely to take the chair. We trust that before any aucfr meeting takes place the persons promoting it will take the trouble to Avo»rtain upon whom their indignation ought to be spent. A most circumstantial statement haß been published b> tho agents of the property, which, if uncontrddicted by proof, shows that these evictions took place for the sole purpose that Mr Parnell and his B ome Rule polio? might receive a slight impetus. If this Is true it will not deprive the tenants of public 'sympathy, it onght to give an accurate direotion to the indigr a ion of »hose whose feelings have been outraged. It has not been made clear hrn proceedings came to be taken at the present time, but as the landlord vras long reduced to the direst straits, he may possibly not be responsible for them. Down to the present time he seems to have been something more than indulgent. The evicted men were all three and a - half, many of them five, years m arrear with their rent. Some of them were riot even tenants, bat had Bquatted on the land witeout invitation. It lo necessary to go through tbe various negotiations, but the statement of the agents m that m the end the tenants were offered a disaharge of arrears on payment of one half year's rent, that the f joyfully agreed to the off=r, but were ordered by the emissaries of the National League to pay nothing. Now, before we rush into indignation meetings we ought to ascertain who haß been responsible. The story of the agents is susceptible of proof or disproof. If it ia not true the National League will be acquitted ; if it is true, one more item will be added to tbe Hstof manufactured miseries w hioh distress the Irish people and enrioh the League. The holdin.s which the people have bten evfotrd may be wretobed io the extreme, bat whan we find arrears extending over five years, it corned to a question whether a landlord is to make a present out and out of uls land to tenants who have been obliging er.ongh to use it and live on it for five years without paving a sixpence of rent We have never believed that lha conditions affecting property m land were healthy, but it is a very different thing to say that land having been resogniaed by law for centuries as property, and m nine out of ten cases having passed from hand to hand for coin, is lo be appropriated by aoy peraoa who effects a lodgement upon it.