420 



The Country Gcntlcuiaiis Magazine 



of the Landed Estates 

 correct data upon such 

 sume that good management 



Court a= 

 a point. 



furnishing 

 If we pre- 

 of property 

 depends upon leases, we may infer that the 

 worst managed naturally came to the hammer, 

 and were therefore deficient in this important 

 particular; a return, then, of the acreage sold 

 and the tenure would exhibit the exact state 

 of things, and, in my opinion, would shew 

 that a very large proportion of the land was 

 held upon leases so long as to prevent that 

 judicious interference and interest which every 

 landlord ought to possess in regard to his 

 estate. Long leases, too, are granted by 

 some landlords to shelve all responsibility 

 and demands. I know of many instances 

 Avhere farms are in a very undeveloped con- 

 dition, unfit to be occupied, with a purely 

 floating capital, and in reply to questions about 

 improvements the landlord says, " There is 

 the land, I will spend nothing, but give you 

 a long lease and you can do what you like." 

 This is a very safe game for the landlord, if 

 improvements are effected. His tenant's 

 interest makes the rent more secure ; if cir- 

 cumstances should arise by which the tenant 

 had to leave the farm before the expiration of 

 the term hewouldleave his improvements after 

 him. The landlord, therefore, has all to gain and 

 nothing to lose. It is this same tone which 

 influences tenants under leases in their culti- 

 vation ; they, too, wish to play the safe game ; 

 if they have a pound in the bank, it is theirs 

 l)eyond yea or nay ; if it should be in the 

 land, some contingency might deprive them 

 of it. So, instead of developing or improv- 

 ing they try to realize, and thus have a re- 

 duced staple and a reduced fertility. 



How this notion of fixity of tenure is to 

 work I am at a loss to conceive. If prices 

 are fixed, if labour is fixed, if everything 

 human is fixed, then I can perfectly under- 

 stand fixity of tenure. If the present occu- 

 piers are fixed, what is to become of those 

 who wish to become farmers hereafter ? Are 

 they to remain outside the pale for ever ? Are 

 ^ye to assume that once a farmer, always a 

 firmer? Fixity of tenure would place the 

 development and control of property in the 

 hands of a class, who, at present, have neither 



energy, capital, nor education, equal to the 

 position they would occupy. We should be 

 attempting as great an experiment in its 

 way with the tenant farmers of Ireland, as 

 the Americans have done with the slave 

 population of the south, with this important 

 difference, that the slave, now free, is made 

 to obey the laws. He may pine from want 

 of organization, unfitness for independency of 

 thought or action, and is worsted in his effort 

 to adapt himself to his freedom. The suffer- 

 ing and the reaction is of a personal character, 

 and comparatively, therefore, of a temporary 

 kind. AVith the tenant farmer the change 

 would be as great, and the unfitness even 

 greater and more decided. Here there would 

 be no control, if the system did not work well 

 where are we ? It would be easy to give per- 

 manent power to a class, but in case of failure 

 how hard it would be to deny it. The work- 

 ing of the temporary system in cases of non- 

 fulfilment is difficult enough, and what would 

 it be under fixity of tenure? Such a tenure 

 would nulify capital and education, and 

 defeat the very object for which it would be 

 instituted. A periodical change admits of 

 competition; it allows the idler, the drunk- 

 ard, and the spendthrift to be weeded out, 

 and throws increasing areas into the hands 

 of the careful, the energetic, and the in- 

 dustrious agriculturists — into the hands of 

 men who know their business and are well 

 able to make a bargain and protect them- 

 selves. Tenure should be of such duration 

 as to allow the occupier time to reap the full 

 fruits of his expenditure in cultivation, or in 

 case of his effecting permanent improvements, 

 to obtain a return for his outlay calculated 

 on a certain number of years, which if not 

 enjoyed by the tenant should be recouped to 

 him either by his successor or the landlord. 

 So far as the development of the soil is con- 

 cerned, the tenant will have all the advan- 

 tages of fixity of tenure, but if fixity of tenure 

 means that the rent to be paid for his land is 

 to bear a less proportion to the value of the 

 produce than a fairly adjusted rent, then it is 

 clear the idea means nothing short of taking 

 from the landlord a proportion of his income- 

 and putting it into the pocket of the tenant. 



