IRISH TENANTS' "IMPROVEMENTS."
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR. ".1 SIR,—Mr. Saunders, in his "Plea for the Plan of Cam- paign," in the Spectator of September 13th, states as though it were an incontestable fact, that in Ireland all buildings, bridges, roads, drains, are made by the tenant. Can he tell me of one bridge or road made by an Irish tenant at his own expense, not being an Ulsterman or Scotch settler ? I can tell him of many made by landlords. For instance, a Kerry landlord, Mr. Mahon), of Dromore, has built nine bridges and made forty miles of road on his estate. The assertions made in the present day about Irish tenants' improvements are simply astounding. Except in Ulster, anything that in England or Scotland would be called an improvement, beyond building the dwelling-house, has been made in concert with the landlord, and wholly or in part at his expense, " allowances " being claimed and granted, sometimes for more than the improvement was worth. In particular, on the estates which have lately been brought into pro- minence, those of Lord Clanricarde and Mr. Smith-Barry, and the Coolgrea.ny and Ponsonby properties, the landlord had expended large sums in improvement. It is true that, previous to the passing of the Encumbered Estates Act, the landlords had done little to improve their land ; but the tenants had done less, Irish agriculture being simply barbarous till within the last forty years ; and the "tenants' improvements" said to have been "bought under a Parliamentary title," did not exist. With regard to exorbitant rents, they were usually calculated, previous to the Land Act of 1881, at one-fourth of the gross produce, while in England they averaged a third. Undoubtedly the fall of prices his made rents too high which were not so before ; but Irish tenants would be more usefully employed in increasing the produce of their land, which they could do with common industry, than in being made tools of to ruin the landlords.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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