IRISH AC 



fall deeply into debt ami would \ -. an 



ion of was 



^ the existing system of local 

 admini>: which wa> largely comn 



.ould prove irreconcilable 

 on of nun small peasant 



ips. And tiu-iv wafl the fear that 

 sums of money could not safely be lei 



ul. A counti just set on foot 



a great strike against rent might, not without 



egarded as an uni debtor. In 



of all, howevt idea of land purchase 



way. In 1884 the Liberal Chief Secrc 



Sir George Trevelyan, brought in a measure 



according to which a sum of 20,000,00 



be advanced for the purposes of land purchase, 



at the rate of not more than 5,000,000 a year. 



Tenants who brought in one-fourth of the sum 



ves were to pay off the other three- 



iis in forty years, their yearly instalments 



not exceeding the amount of their existing rent. 



Tenants who received the whole sum from the 



e were to discharge principal and interest 



by paying 5 per cent, per annum. This measure 



never becan On the other hand, the new 



Conservative Governn ndi with ParnelPs 



support had a majority, carried next year a 



d Purchase Bill, the so-called Ashbourne 



Bv this Act, which was passed in 1885, a 



sum of 5,000,000 was voted for land purchase. 



The Act laid it down that owner and tenant 



should come to an agreement about the price ; 



