THE IRISH LAND PURCHASE ACT OF 1903 901 



Act established a fund of 5,000,000 pounds (increased by 5,000- 

 000 more in 1888) for purchase, and relieved the tenant from 

 providing part of the purchase-money. In 1.887 ^^^ fair-rent 

 provisions of the act of 1881 were extended to the lease-holders, 

 and temporary reductions of rent, based on the movement of 

 prices, arranged, Mr. Arthur Balfour's measure of 1891 intro- 

 duced a complicated system by which additional funds for land 

 purchase were guaranteed by the several Irish counties through 

 the grants given to them from the State. In 1896 the tenant's 

 right to improvements (which had been impaired by a series of 

 judicial decisions) was further defined and secured, while more 

 lenient rules for the repayment of the purchase advances, secur- 

 ing a reduction to the purchaser at intervals of ten years, en- 

 couraged the transfer of land from the landlords to the tenants. 

 Besides this varied legislation there were many abortive attempts 

 e.g., Mr. Morley's bill of 1895 to deal with the many difficulties 

 of the problem which each change in economic conditions brought 

 into notice. Thus the special position of tenants under the Ulster 

 custom ; the right of the landlord to pre-emption of a holding 

 offered for sale by its occupier, and to have its true value fixed 

 by the Land Commission ; the treatment of tenants who had been 

 evicted, and of those who had taken their farms ; and the claim 

 of the agricultural laborer to obtain a house and an allotment of 

 land all these had attracted public attention. 



Two influences were, however, of peculiar importance in has- 

 tening on the act of 1903. One was the strong movement in 

 favor of compulsory purchase initiated by Mr. T. VV. Russell and 

 supported by the Protestant and Unionist farmers of the North. 

 Another was the increasing difficulty experienced in keeping up 

 the agitation connected with the Irish party's policy. A general 

 recognition of the loss that long-continued disturbance inflicts on 

 all classes made conciliation or compromise seem desirable. To 

 these must be added the disposition of English statesmen to deal 

 more liberally with Ireland, in order to raise her material condition 

 and thereby remove the source of political discontent. 



The views of the government were decidedly, indicated in the 

 Land Purchase Bill introduced in 1902. Its principal feature 



