THE AGRARIAN REFORM OF 1903. 107 



One must therefore know the productive power 

 of the farm, one must estimate the value of the 

 products, taking the state of the market, etc., 

 into consideration, and from this one must deduct 

 the cost of production. The surphis is to be 

 divided, according to a formula which has yet 

 to be ascertained, into the profit of the tenant 

 and the rent of the landlord. 



In Ireland this method is frequently very hard 

 to apply. Of 486,865 holdings (1892) there were 

 only 127,098 over ^4 valuation/ Most of these 

 little holdings are not to be regarded as agricul- 

 tural. If the occupier pays no taxes and takes 

 no account of his labour the holding does not 

 produce enough to support him. There is there- 

 fore no surplus to divide — the rent which is paid 

 comes from some subsidiary industry. But does 

 this mean that the land produces no surplus 

 over the cost of production ? Let us take the 

 case of a farm rented at £^0. The farmer can 

 live comfortably on this and have another ^50 

 as profit. Now let this farm be divided into 

 ten, each of which pays ^5 a year rent, the rents 

 amounting in all to £^0 as before. The ten 

 tenants cannot live decently on these holdings, 

 not to speak of making a profit. There is no 

 surplus. They pay the rent — which their mutual 

 competition probably sets higher than that of 

 the single ^50 holding — out of other industries. 

 It is the price which they are ready to pay for 



^ Fry Commission p. 19. 



