IRISH AFFAIRS.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 179, 20 November 1886, Page 4

IRISH AFFAIRS.

A London cable despatch cays :— "Aff-iirain Ireland are pursuing a course which ia exceedingly satisfactory to the Government. General Sir Redvers Buller'a mission has ceitainly accomplished much, and landlords are generally responding to Lord Harfcington's appeal to deal tenderly with their tenants. The result is that wo hear nothing of the sweoping evictions which were predicted. Evon " United Ireland admits that there have been extraotdinary reductions on judicial rent, and cays that it oly remains for tno tenants themselves to carry out Parnoll's 50 per cent, reduction. Happily for the country, and against this advice, the improvement in prices is maintained ; but tho critical time is yet to come, and the roil condition of afftirs cannot be f-een until a demand i« made for the November rents. The latest phase of the Nationalist campaign is found in Dillons promise that persons suffering on account of the League's orders shall be compensated by the new Tribh Parliament or any legislative body having the power of a money grant. Healeys suggestion that police oihcers intruding upon meetings in private houses should be thrown out of tho window is regarded as another example of his saturnine humour. Purchases under Lord Ashbourne's Act continue to bo furiously pushed in all parts of Ireland. The officials of the Government are working hard in all sections to make the Act popular and to porsuade tenants to take immediate advantage of it They are apparently labouring under the mistaken notion that the smaller holdors are the most dangerous class in tho country, and ought to be swept away as soon as practicable, if thero is to be peace in Ireland. Churchill'^ men are scouring the country, doing all in their power to acquire title by purchase to all such lands. Tho certain result of all this will be a frightful loss to the British exchequer, increased taxation, increased interest on treasury notes, or loans, and a further postponement of the long-promised and frequently-deferred improvement on the national balance-sheet. T. P. O'Connor cableß under date October 20th that the land war is spreading in Ireland, and says that on many estates landlorda and tenants are apart on an average at least of 15 per cent, between j the reductions the former concede and those the latter are willing to accopfc. The branches of the Irish National League in counties Cork and Waterford have been making inquiries regarding the condition of the farms in these districts, and have just made a report. They say that the harvests have been bad, that oats are sblling at from three to five shillings per barrel, and that a heavy fall in stocks has rondered the farmers unable to pay their rents. On account of the bad harvest, tho farmers demand a reduction of from 40 to 50 per cent, in rente, and whore the reduction is refused they will pay nothing. A number of landlords offer a reduction of 35 per cent. The " Tribune's " cable epecial from London ol October 16th says : Last Saturday's sensation of the " Daily Mews " is now exploded. For three or four days that j paper induced the public to believe that the Government was possibly framing a homerule bill according to Chamberlain's proposals for four provincial parliaments. After Lord Hartington denied his alleged assent, the pubHc became dubious, and tho " Daily News " climbed down with the naive remark that if the bill was proposed it would have the credit of making the first announcement, and if abandoned it must be set down to the "Dailv News" having exposed the Ministerial designs. The true history of this canard is Bimple. The Government just now is making active inquiries into district provincial councils and other double-barrelled methods of representa-

1 - ' l 'I ' } tion in Austria, Germany, France and Belgium, it being somewhat understood that the Belgian method finds the most approval. , The Government aleo asked Chamberlain to favour them with, his scheme for four councils in detail. Chamberlain's compliance was most likely the cause of the ♦« Daily News " self-decep-tion. The editor was made aware of Chamberlain's QBsent, and assured that the Cabinet had accepted the scheme.