THE AGRARIAN REFORM OF 1903. 155 



have to thank in part the tact of their officials, 

 and in part, not the effect of the enlargement of 

 holdings, but the remuneration which the tenants 

 received for works of improvement carried out 

 on their farms. ^ 



Even if the Government were to pay down as 

 a free gift from Imperial funds the whole cost of 

 the enlargement of holdings, the difficulties 

 would not then be at an end. The pasture-lands 

 necessary for the purpose do not exist in over- 

 abundant measure. If one were to divide up 

 among the farmers of the district all the culti- 

 vable land in the Union of Westport, each man 

 would have only a i6-acre farm; in Belmullet, 

 15*5 acres; in Swinford, 14*5; in Dunfanaghy, 

 13*2. Every enlargement of a farm is a benefit 

 to the owner of it, but as a social reform the 

 process is of no value unless at least 20-acre 

 farms can be provided. If such were to be formed 

 in the above-mentioned districts, then trans- 

 plantations to other counties and provinces 

 would be necessary, and would assuredly call 

 forth a fiercer resistance than Cromwell's trans- 

 plantation of the Irish landowners to Connaught. 

 If the enlargement process were to be carried 



^ The income of the C. D. B. for all purposes now amounts to 

 ;^86,ooo a year, but only a portion of this is available for the 

 enlargement of holdings, the administration costs of which are 

 very considerable. The loss of the Land Commission on the 

 purchase and re-sale of congested estates must not by law be 

 higher than 10 per cent, of the purchase price. 



