IRISH AGRARIAN TENURE. 93 



of ;f 1,674,000. Later on, Bright again procured 

 the insertion in the Land Act of 1870 of clauses 

 by which two-thirds of the purchase money- 

 could be advanced to the purchasing tenant, 

 while in the Act of 1881 an advance of three- 

 fourths was authorised. These Acts had no 

 great success. 



The following table shows the number of 

 tenants who purchased under the above Acts : — 



Tenants. 



1869 ••• ••• ••• 6,057 



1870 ... ...,- ... 877 



1881 ... ..! ... 731 



7,665 



Apart from technical defects, the success of 

 this legislation was mainly impaired by the fol- 

 lowing circumstances : — 



The owner of the property had usually only a 

 life interest in it, and could only sell if the 

 interests of his successors were secured. As at 

 that time there was no system of land registra- 

 tion in Ireland the owner was obliged before 

 any sale could take place to prove his title with 

 great particularity ; deeds of grant and similar 

 documents had to be hunted up in the archives, 

 and subjected to an examination which cost 

 much time and money. Moreover, the tenant 

 was seldom in a position to produce the quarter 

 of the purchase money which he was under all 

 circumstances obliged to provide. In the year 

 1882 a Committee of the Upper House, which 



