904 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



restrained by the fear that in some way or other it might wreck 

 the bill. The result was that the second reading passed by an 

 enormous majority, and the amendments in committee were few 

 and comparatively unimportant. One serious amendment pro- 

 posed by the Nationalist leader namely, (i) the adoption of the 

 minimum reductions laid down in the Conference Report (25 per 

 cent for first-term and 15 per cent for second-term rents) and 

 (2) the removal of the maximum limits of reduction fixed in 

 the bill was negatived. The amount of advance permissible 

 was increased ; but, speaking broadly, the measure passed the 

 Commons unaltered. 



In the Lords its course was equally smooth. Some amend- 

 ments, carried against the government by the votes of the Irish 

 peers, were rejected by the Commons and not pressed by the 

 Upper House. 



The keynote of this elaborate piece of legislation is to be 

 found in the fact that it is essentially a land-purchase act, and 

 therefore intended to set aside or rather make unnecessary the 

 act of 1 88 1, which was as essentially a rent-fixing act. It is 

 true that there are provisions to assist purchase in the Land Act 

 of 188 1, and provisions as to the hearing of fair-rent cases in 

 that of 1903 ; but in each case they are subordinate to the main 

 purpose, and are hidden away, so to speak, in an obscure corner. 

 This change marks the advance made in the intervening period. 

 What is regarded as highly conservative in 1903 would have 

 been denounced as revolutionary in 1881. 



Starting, then, with the principle of assisting the transfer of 

 land to the occupier, the new act provides several ways. First, 

 the previous system of individual dealings between owner and 

 occupier remains open to those who desire to employ it. But 

 the transaction will have to be examined, as at present, and 

 the security found to be sufficient by the Land Commission. 

 Further, the selling landlord will receive only the capital of 

 the annuity without any bonus ; and there is no limit, either 

 maximum or minimum, as to the reduction gained by the pur- 

 chaser. Even in this case the advantages conferred by the act 

 are considerable ; for the selling owner receives cash instead of 



