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TJie Country Gentlanmis Magazine 



meeting would therefore view with great con- 

 cern any attempt to unsettle the relations of 

 landlord and tenant, and earnestly trust that 

 the wisdom of statesmen will prevent such a 

 course. It was further set forth that the re- 

 port of the Committee of the Lords now 

 sitting to inquire into the working of the Act 

 cannot be received with public satisfaction, 

 inasmuch as no invitation had been sent to 

 any tenar;t-farmers' association to express 

 their opinion or to send witnesses before the 

 Committee to give evidence on a measure 

 which has already proved of vital importance 

 to farmers. Captain M'Ghie seconded the 

 resolution, which was unanimously adopted. 

 A Tenants' Defence Association meeting in 

 Ballimoney, county Antrim, has passed a 

 long series of resolutions, in which they 

 strongly protest against the House of Lords 

 holding a secret inquiry into the workings of 

 the Irish Land Act ; first, because the time 



selected is premature and inopportune, the 

 capabilities of the Act not having received a 

 sufficiently lengthened test to warrant inter- 

 ference with its operation. Secondly, that 

 without recognizing it as a final settlement of 

 the question, they record their conviction that 

 it has already produced a salutary change in 

 the relations between landlord and tenant, 

 more particularly in Ulster, where the en- 

 hanced value of tenant-right in consequence of 

 its legislation has not only been a boon to 

 the tenant, but the value of the fee-simple 

 property of the landlord has also been 

 increased. In proof of this they refer to the 

 sale of the Waterford estate. Lastly, it is 

 urged that the committee of the House of 

 Lords should summon tenant-farmers to give 

 evidence on the working of the Act if the 

 inquiry is to be conducted on principles con- 

 sonant with honour and justice, and not upon 

 those which excite universal disapproval. 



PROFESSOR ROGERS AND THE LAND LAWS. 



THE North of England Farmer hd^s the 

 following article upon Professor 

 Thorold Rogers's speech at Banbury. Pro- 

 fessor Rogers wrote a book, that was published 

 half a dozen years ago, regarding the history 

 of agricultural prices, a valuable work no 

 doubt, but about as interesting reading for 

 farmers as a " ready reckoner," with the 

 prices in Latin or Greek, Cultivators of the 

 soil, as a rule, we are sorry to remark, do not 

 keep a record of the values of their corn or 

 stock. If they did, we should have much 

 more satisfactory information in State Returns 

 than we have, although these are getting 

 better year by year. 



Banbury town, as every child knows, is 

 intimately associated with a certain old 

 woman, who, with the superlative pride of 

 her sex, was not merely content with wear- 

 ing rings on her fingers, but actually con- 

 ceived the extreme and original idea of 

 putting bells on her toes. AVhat her motive 



may have been for so doing, we have no con- 

 ception. Perhaps she had lost a husband. 

 Perhaps she never had one. Perhaps she 

 wanted one. Whichever supposition is right, 

 she was unquestionably a curious specimen 

 of womankind. That may be the reason 

 why Professor Thorold Rogers has gone 

 down to the legendary town to discourse on 

 his favourite theme. "Ride a cock-horse," 

 in his journey, is perfectly inapplicable ; and 

 considering also that his hearers included 

 amongst them a large number of agricul- 

 tural labourers, we need not be surprised 

 that his speech was prodigiously ap- 

 plauded. For, just consider for a moment 

 what the ex-Professor of Political Eco- 

 nomy had in hand. He went down to Ban- 

 bury to represent the cause of the Land 

 Tenure Reform Association, the objects of 

 which formidable body are to remove all 

 legal and fiscal impediments to the transfer 

 of land ; to secure the abolition of the law of 



