On Wednesday Mr. George Wyndham introduced the new Irish Land
Purchase Bill, which for the last few months has been so strongly moving Irish opinion. We have dealt at length elsewhere with its chief provisions and guiding principles, and will only quote here the Chief Secretary's appeal, in which be told the House that there were two alternatives,—to pro- long the land tragedy for another hundred or hundred and fifty years, or to "prosecute a business transaction occupying some fifteen years based on the probity and goodwill of all concerned." The security for the loans under the Bill is ample, and the ultimate gift of £12,000,000 to enable the tenants to buy cheaply without depriving the landlords of their legitimate property rights would, we hold, be well em- ployed even if there were to be no return. There will, how- ever, be an immediate return of £250,000 a year in the reduction of Irish administrative expenditure.
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