Congested districts, which will be so declared by the Viceroy
in Council, will be dealt with differently. The districts will be confided to a special Board, which will make sales com- pulsory, will induce tenants to amalgamate or rearrange holdings, will buy surplus cottages, and will assist tenants to migrate or emigrate, using for these purposes £1,500,000 still left from the Irish Church surplus and the Irish Fishery Fund. This part of the scheme is of high importance, so high, indeed, that we should not wonder if it were dropped in the debate, to reappear in a separate and perhaps larger Bill, including a supplementary grant from the State itself. The congested districts are comparatively so small in area, and their want is so extreme, that the British taxpayer might not oppose a charitable grant for their separate benefit. If this is not done in some shape or other, the discussion on " amalgama- tion " and " migration and emigration " may last from now till Doomsday.
