54 THE LANDED INTEREST. 



pressly favouring the system ; but, though great 

 advantages in regard to terms of payment were 

 also offered by that Act, the results hitherto 

 have been comparatively small. In the first 

 case the disposal of the lands was imperative, 

 and the Church Commissioners offered these 

 small holdings at low fixed prices without com- 

 petition. But it is the duty of the Landed 

 Estates Court to get the best price they can for 

 the landowner, who may very naturally object 

 to allow small portions to be sold here and there 

 out of his estate to suit the convenience of 

 individual tenants. It has been proposed to 

 create a new office, whose function should be to 

 buy on suitable terms large estates which are 

 offered for sale, and to subdivide and sell them 

 to the farmers on the same favourable terms 

 as -the Church lands. 



Of the two plans which have been chiefly 

 advocated in Ireland, viz., fixity of tenure with 

 court-made rents, or to advance Government 

 money by which the occupiers may be gradually 

 put in possession of the fee simple, I should 

 prefer the latter. The first would not remove 



