CHAPTER II 

 OCCUPYING OWNERSHIP {confimied) 



It is difficult to see how any valid objection can be 

 raised to the principle of the Bill in any quarter, for, 

 as Sir James Caird stated some years ago: " There is 

 not a single reason in favour of exceptional aid from 

 the Treasury for Ireland that is not equally applicable 

 to the rest of the United Kingdom." 



It will be noticed that on the completion of the pur- 

 chase the farmer becomes the actual owner of the 

 land, subject to the yearly instalments. He has free- 

 dom of cultivation, security for outlay, and every other 

 incentive for industry, energy, and enterprise, inas- 

 much as all improvements made and the result of all 

 money spent on the land remain his own. Subject to 

 the yearly instalments and other conditions named, he 

 can at any time sell his farm, or can devise it to those 

 who come after him. But the holding must always be 

 in the hands of an occupying owner. 



The amount of an instalment, by reason of the very 

 low rate of interest on which it is based, will, as a rule, 

 work out less, in some cases much less, than the rent 

 previously paid. 



Nearly all other nations in Europe, some by revolu- 

 tion, others by wise statesmanship, have adopted 

 "cultivating ownership" as the basis of their land 

 tenure. Great Britain (no longer Ireland) almost, if 

 not quite alone, retains a system based on "landlord, 

 tenant, and labourer." The results of that system, 

 as experience shows, are disastrous to all concerned. 

 R 5 



