THE IRELAND OF TO-DAY. 6$ 



may be regarded as low. But if a fall in prices 

 took place and rents fell by 33 per cent, the 

 interest on mortgages would of course remain 

 unreduced. If the total income dropped from 

 ;fi,8oo to ^1,200, this would mean, the burden 

 of debts remaining the same, a reduction of the 

 net income by 50 per cent. The liquidation 

 and conversion of debts was therefore often 

 demanded by distressed Irish landowners. 

 They have however never been able, till the 

 Wyndham Land Act, to procure the creation of 

 a financial organization for this purpose, although 

 a reduction of the rate of interest from 5 per cent, 

 to 3 per cent, would have reduced an obligation 

 of ;f 600 to ^"360. 



The ancestors of the present Irish land 

 owners were planted in Ireland with a view to 

 civilizing the inhabitants, who laboured under 

 truly primitive economic conditions. We can- 

 not say that this task has been accomplished.' 

 The thousands of small farmers who were 

 settled on Irish estates would have made the 

 expenditure of immense sums of capital neces- 

 sary, if the owner of the property had desired to 

 give each of them a fully equipped farm. The 

 owner seldom possessed the capital required for 

 this object. Thus the burden of equipping his 

 farm fell upon the farmer, who performed' his 

 task in a manner which was far from technically 

 perfect. The landlord levied rent from the 

 land ; the farmer put all the capital into the 

 land which was necessary to make it arable. 



