THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3390, 3 November 1879, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1879.

Ibblahd his become famous for the frequency of agrarian outrages, and of late years such offences hare been more frequent, every mail bringing the record of some unfortunate landlord or agent being shot at or murdered. A late cablegram informs us that it had been found necessary to send a detachment of troops to assist in some measure to preserre order. Such a state of things in Bussia would be viewed with unconcern, and would be credited to the uncivilised nature of the inhabitants or the autocratic system of Government of the Czar of ail tb« Busiias. It cannot however be said that Ireland is ruled with a rod of iron, or that her inhabitants are a semi-cirilised race of people. Then to what can we assign the disordered state of affairs, and the discontent of the people? To only one cause—the iniquitous system of land tenure. With a soil second to none in fruitfulness, and a people peculiarly attached to that soil, is it creditable that the administration of the law should be such that nothing but discontent should prevail amongst the middle and lower classes, and poverty and wretchedness be the lot of the laborers of the soil. An agitation is taking place at the present time throughout the country, with the object of having the laud law reformed, and a reduction in the rentals. In the City of Limerick, we learn from our laty files,

a meeting was held, at which 20,000 persons were present, and a number of resolutions were passed, all being condemnatory of the hitfh rentals charged by the landlords, and poiuting out the necessity for a revisiou of the land laws. The following was the first resolution passed :— " That whereas, in consequence of three succeasire bad harvests, aod of the low price ct all agricultural produce, it will be impossible for the farmers to pay the rent fixed at a time when prices were much higher than they are now, we therefore earnestly but respectfully appeal to the landlord! of the county for nuch a temporary reduction of rent as will enable us to ptss safely through the present trisia, and to giro employment to the poor labourers, who otherwise, it is f«sared, will be as destitute as they were in the famine years." Mr O'Sullivan, a member of Parliament, in speaking to the resolution, said it was absolutely necessary, if the poorer classes were to be sared from another famine, that the present depressed state of the Country should be taken into consideration, and the landlords compelled by law to trent the tenauts with justice. He said that within the last twenty or thirty years, a most grieTous system had crept into the couutry for raising the reatg of properties. " The system is carried on in the following fashion: If the father* dies, then before the widow or the son are acknowledged as tenants, there is an addition of five or six shillings an acre placed on the land. Then again if the son is about getting married, before he is allowed to do so—bear in mind in many cases he must get consent from the office before he can get married. Still people will say that slavery is abolished in this kingdom. Well, before the consent is given, very frequently, fire or six shillings more is added to the rent, and yet, notwithstanding those advances under this vile system* the unfortunate tenants are still kept on as yearly tenants, so that there may be another pull afc their successors. Is not such treatment enough to make men desperate P This constant nagging, nagging, which never allows a man to raise his head above water." Is it to be wondered at that many of the people of Ireland leave the land of their birth when they are subjected to such treatment, nor is it strange that a revision of the land laws should be called for. Another resolution was carried to the following effect: —" That, whereas the present deplorable condition of the Irish Jarmera affords a very striking proof of the necessity of a land bill embodying the principle of fixity of tenure at fair rents with free sale, it is, therefore, the determination of this meeting never to be satisfied with any land bill not containing those provisions." It will appear quite evident that a crisis is at hand in Ireland, and it will require all the tact of the Government of Lord Beaconsfield to , prevent violent breaches of the peace, and concessions frotn the Parliament to meet the exceptional circumstances of that oppressed coon try. A feeling of interest An the question of the future legislation txporfksiS' tenures, and the rights of the psople of tbc country t& the land of that country, is taking possession of the legislatures and the inhabitants of many countries at the present day, and the present situation in .Ireland calls probably for the first experiments in land legislation. All the Liberal leaders of public opinion in Europe are now devoting attention to the subject of the disposition of the lands of their States, and the signal success that the distribution of the hnd in small holdings throughout France is an argument not easily set aside, and one which has led many to advocate the right of the lower classes to an interest in the lands of the larger holders. These ,matters are all of interest in this colony where so many are attempting to possess themselves of the waste lands of the colony, and our legislators have a daty to perform, to see that the future of this fair colony ii not cursed with, the fate of Ireland of the present day.