232 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



applotted, whilst the neighbour who neglects his 

 duty is actually relieved of part of what he would 

 have had to pay. By valuing all as if the land had 

 been drained, this hardship may be set right, and a 

 mild screw put on the neglectful occupiers and owners 

 to do their duty. The gain to all from the general 

 drainage of the country exceeds all other possible 

 gains manifold. 



M. de Molinari's last letter in the Debats of 

 September 22, deserves the most careful attention. 

 It is directly on the point I am now discussing, — 

 What can be done ? He says plainly, Ireland is truly 

 sick. It is sick of one of the worst forms of pauper- 

 ism, — agrarian pauperism. There are 200,000 to 

 300,000 tenants, representing more than a million of 

 souls, who cultivate an inferior refuse soil, so that in 

 good years they are only just above starvation, and 

 in bad years they are star\-ing. It is these small 

 refuse farms that are the cause of the trouble ; 

 nothing else. They must be united to other farms, 

 so as to increase the size, and make each farm large 

 enough to support the farmer and his family, and 

 such as he can prosper in. The process has gone 

 on rapidly ever since the great famine. The Land 

 Act retarded it. But still it went on, neverthe- 

 less, and notliing but the union of farms, till they 

 can support a family, can produce a better state of 

 things. 



I believe there is no answer to this statement. 



