Leave was on Thursday granted to Mr. Balfour to intro-
duce the Purchase Bill and the Congested Districts Bill almost without opposition. Mr. Labouchere did, indeed, insist on a division, moving that it was undesirable to pledge the country to these measures until the sense of the con- stituencies had been taken; but Mr. Gladstone and his principal colleagues walked out of the House, and Mr. Parnell, with twenty-four of his followers, voted for the BilL Leave was therefore given by the crushing majority of 268 to 117. It is understood that the Irish vote was intended to express the Parnellite irritation at Mr. Gladstone's conduct; for, although the Bill of last year has been divided into two, no substantial change in its purport has been made. Mr. Balfour has, however, simplified the machinery, has withdrawn the sug- gestion in the original Bill that twenty years' purchase would be the fairest rate, and has excluded grazing farms and farms on which the tenant does not live from the operation of the proposed law. That change is perfectly sensible and right, as such farmers are not afraid of eviction ; but in cases where an estate covers both large farms and small, it may increase the landlord's unwillingness to accept terms. He will think that as he must remain an Irish landlord, he may as well keep the whole estate.
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