io6 THE IRISH AGRARIAN PROBLEM. 



worth ^loo, and that the cost of production is 

 £^0. There is then a surplus of £^o. If we 

 divide it equally between landlord and tenant 

 each will get £2>^. Now suppose that the cost 

 of production remains the same, but that the 

 gross value of the products sinks by 20 per cent., 

 i.e. to £^0. There is now £a^o instead of £^0 

 to divide. The owner takes ;^2o — the half, as 

 before — while he formerly got £^0. His rent is 

 therefore reduced by ^10, or 33^ per cent., while 

 the fall in prices was only 20 per cent.^ Does 

 the rent-reduction in this case stand in true 

 proportion to the fall in prices ? 



Rent, in Ireland, is the sum which the owner 

 of land receives for the use of it from the tenant. 

 If this rent is to be fixed as a fair one by a court 

 of justice, then that court must furnish a defini- 

 tion, showing what it regards as ' fair,' and it 

 must indicate the methods by which a ' fair 

 rent ' is arrived at. 



The Fry Commission pronounced such a defi- 

 nition. According to it, a "fair rent" is "the 

 yearly sum for which the farm in the landlord's 

 hands could be reasonably let from year to year, 

 taking into consideration all the circumstances 

 of the case in connexion with the farm as well as 

 with the whole district ; and assuming that the 

 farm is let to a solvent and sensible tenant who 

 hopes to make a profit by cultivating and not by 

 selling the holding." ^ 



^ Fry Commission, p. ^i- 



^ lb., p. 21 ; Evidence, 19,990 sqq. 



