The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1909. IRISH LAND POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 638, 15 October 1909, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1909. IRISH LAND POLICY.

But for the overshadowing importance or the Finance Bill, a great deal more attention would have been given to the .British Government's Irish Land Purchase Bill than it has been able to receive. *or this measure introduces a new political doctrine of little less moment than even the most radical of the proposals fathered by-Mr. Lloyd-George. We are informed to-day that-the Bill has passed the House of Lords, and' "the principle of compulsory purchase was accepted by 10G votes to 31.'-' "Lokd Lansdowne,". the message; proceeds, "argued' in favour of carefully guarded compulsion,- and the Lords made, considerable amendments with a view to protecting the landlords from injustice." Last week it was reported that the Lords had rejected the proposal that the power of compulsory purchase should be. applied outside th'e "congested areas," a decision which led Mr."John Bedjiond to send a battle-warning to.his compatriots in America, advising them that "a great crisis" had arisen, and that the Lords wero "destroying" the Bill, 'xno main opposition to the "compulsory purchase" clauses of - tho raeasuro has been focussod, less upon the matter of compulsion than , upon , the ■■ manner in which it may be exercised, and it is to be assumed that the Lords' amendments aro designed to, remove some of the more serious dangers in the Government's scheme, it was proposed that .the Estates Commissioners and the Congested Districts Board should have almost unlimited powers of expropriation.' With tho exception of demesne lands and home farms occupied by.the,owner, they might take any. land;compulsorily, tho only thing necessary to the exercise of their powers being the failure of negotiations or "proposals" for a sale of the land. There was nothing in tho Bill to guard against sham proposals—proposals to purchase at an absurd rate, or proposals made by strangers, professional agitators, or anybody at all. •. Unsuccessful in his. proposal, the proponent might invoke tho Commissioners' power of expropriation,, and, as Sir Edward Carson pointed out, "although it might be that the Commissioners would not act, they would have an unhappy time if they did not." In 'reselling, to be sure, the Commissioners wero .placed under some restriction, for they could resell only to tenants within their, area' of jurisdiction or to,the sons of such tenante. Subject to this restriction! however, tho land might bo given to "any per'spn to whom in the opinion of the Land Commission an advance ought to be mado." : It is'hardly"an■'6ver-statemeni"of' ' tho'character of this crudo and .vigorous proposal to say, ■ as 1 tho Times says, that it is. an "assertion of the claim- of 'the State' arbitrarily' to seize suclrproporty as;-it-pleases, and at ( su'ch price as it pleases,; and to apportion the spoil, thus ! forcibly .and, unjustly acquired, amongst such classes of the electorate as the Government may'.desire to propitiate;": According to Mr.,Birrell, the advances for .purchase- under the Bill nvould bo £150,000,000,, and it was' ihorcforp very natural.that-a', great,-deal of alarni should .havo/becn felt at; the extent' to'which its' ■powers 'bf expropriation would bo used by;a Board nine of -whoso nineteen mem-, bors are to be elected practically; though not directly, by the .tenant: purchasers themselves; The Bill made some drastic .and obviously questionable variations in the Act; of 1003,, under "which voluntary settlement proceeded fairly well. The 1903 Act, for example, provided that :when .owners and tenants agreo to a sale iwithin a certain number of years' purchase of the judicial rents, the sale was to go through without inspection as to. .security or .equity of price by the Estates Commissioners. The new measure insists 'upon inspection, which 'will naturally hamper, and delay, the conduct of sales.;

■Another, objectionable thing, in-tho Bill is the provision that when a failure of negotiations between, tenants and landlords allows tho Commissioners, to intervene they may at once acquiro the estate, without a struggle.if their price is ac;ceptcd; but by iorqo if the price is refused. ."' As to the price which they may offer to pay, thoy are directed to Have regard "to the ,prices, which' the tenants and other persons are willing to give"! One of the, Peers' amendments which was specifically reported last week destroyed .the , clauso fixing the constitution of the new Congested Districts Boards. Thcso Boards, undor the old Act, were nonparty _'and non-elective. The new proposal is to make them\ subject to election by County Councils, which simply means election by the extreme Nationalists. Of !the nineteen members of. a Board; the ten official members will not commonly attend the meetings. Tho nine elected members-will,almost always be in a jority. In February 1907, the County Councils'which camo under the Board in Cpnnaught and Ulster comprised 174 Nationalists and 8 Unionists; in Munstcr no' Unionists 1 were elected. The general principle of compulsory purchase has no largo party opposed to it in. Britain, as Lord Lanbdowne's acceptance, of it will- indicate. But the Government in its Irish. Bill seems to have made the machinery of compulsion almost as dangorous.as it could be. Compulsion with safeguards is, there is little doubt, what is wanted : in the matter of Irish land purchase', and tho true friends of peace and progress for.lreland will certainly believe that tho Lords have acted in'tho best interests of the country in supplying those safeguards.. ..;■■' . ,