THE IRISH LAND PURCHASE ACT OF 1903 913 



capital on the part of the landlord, and also to improvements by 

 the tenant. A system under which rent is periodically revised 

 makes it the tenant's interest to let the land deteriorate ; the 

 constant litigation about improvements stops their being carried 

 out. The intense dissatisfaction felt by both parties proves the 

 failure of the judicial tenancy plan. 



Purchase will take this dead weight off Irish agriculture and 

 give scope for progress. The chief danger for the future in this 

 respect is the unsuitable character of so many Irish holdings. In 

 the Congested Districts there are small farms, or rather plots, 

 situated on poor soil. Elsewhere large farms of good land are 

 the rule. The best endeavors of administrators cannot speedily 

 change this condition. The slow and steady action of economic 

 forces is the only complete remedy, and this is only possible if 

 freedom of movement and trade is allowed. 



The energetic and the thrifty must be permitted to come to the 

 front ; the feeble and incompetent cannot be permanently left in 

 possession of the soil. Agricultural progress, like industrial, 

 depends on bringing forward the best men, and giving to skill 

 and providence their due reward. A good system of land tenure 

 is an essential prerequisite, but it is only a prerequisite ; and, 

 indeed, any form of ownership which tends to stereotype existing 

 conditions is certain in the modern economic world to prove evil. 

 It is, therefore, essential to the ultimate success of the purchase 

 legislation that it should be supplemented by reform and simpli- 

 fication of the general land law. The complicated rights and the 

 restraints on alienation (though the latter are much reduced), 

 which are characteristic of the English real property law, are 

 altogether unsuited for a land where there is a large majority of 

 peasant owners. The small proprietor class either gradually dies 

 out or lingers on in a distressed condition under the cost and 

 uncertainty of the law. Legal reform is, then, absolutely neces- 

 sary ; and there is good reason to hope that it will be carried out 

 in company with the process of transfer which the act of 1903 is 

 designed to accomplish. 



