LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE IRISH LAND QUESTION.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THB"SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—Though many persons have of late years written on this difficult question, it is still a subject that Englishmen generally understand very little about, and my object in writing this letter is to put the matter before English readers as it strikes a Yorkshire farmer and land agent, after visiting some of the poorest districts in the West of Ireland, for the express purpose of examining into the nature of the land, the conditions of holding, and mode of cultivation. As a sample of the state of things at present existing, I would take the coast-line of the county of Galway, with its numerous bays,. running far up into the country from Galway to Clifden. Throughout this district one finds a population, who have doubtless been attracted to the coast-line from the fact that by the use of sea-weed as manure they were enabled to bring the miserable land into cultivation, so as in many eases to make it produce potatoes and oats in great abundance ; and also by burning it, and making kelp, to supplement the doubtful living afforded by their holdings. This trade has. dwindled down to almost nothing, owing to the manufacture of iodine from Peruvian earth.
But what is the original land, and how is it brought into. cultivation ? It is a soft, spongy bog, resting on granite rocks. Over the whole face of the country are strewn granite. boulders of all sizes ; and on this inhospitable shore the Irish peasant erects his house, of the stones that lie broadcast every- where. This is his home, and the homestead of his cattle, pigs,. and poultry (and that people under British rule can be allowed to remain living amongst the dirt and filth that everywhere prevail is a disgrace to us, in this age of sanitary improvements, and the wonder of every English Poor-law guardian or member of sanitary committee or Board of Health). The stones that• lie on the surface are removed and built into walls around the- little enclosures, often of only -a few perches in extent, and inside these little patches may be seen standing up great. boulders of granite, on the tops of which are piled up the still ever-abundant stones.
The enclosures are cultivated in " lazy-beds," and the crops of potatoes and oats, when I saw them, were a credit to the agricul- ture of any country; and although it is the fashion in England to condemn this mode of cultivation, I am convinced that it is by far the best that could be adopted, as the trenches afford a drainage for the land, and the additional soil for covering the crops is invaluable, where the beds rest, as is often the case, on the solid rock. To this bog land is carried sand (really sea-shells ground by the action of the sea on the rocks) and immense quan- tities of sea-weed, nearly the whole of which is carried up the rocky shore in baskets on the backs of the women. While potatoes and oats are grown to perfection, the cultivation of turnips and wurzels is very deficient. Osiers, where grown for making turf-baskets, look magnificent, and their extended cul- tivation might be made a source of profit and employment.
From what I have described, it will be seen that the only possible mode of cultivation is by spade-labour ; indeed, there are comparatively few districts on the coast of Galway in which a plough could be worked, and yet a large population subsists an the products of the soil. To these, the usually-suggested English remedy of giving them more land is no remedy at all, for as a rule, they have already as much as they are in a posi- tion or have the means to cultivate, although there is room for great improvement in the way in which the land is distributed, many families having insufficient land for the num- bers there are to till it, and others having more than they can work. Generally speaking, their endeavour appears to be to raise sufficient potatoes to sustain life, and a few oats to sell to pay the rent and buy absolute necessaries. Some have runs for stock, and are in tolerable circumstances ; others have lost all their cattle, and even the sheep or two which furnished the wool for -clothing. This in many cases was spun, woven, and dyed at home, but now the single garment of homespun is in tatters, and on the coming harvest must depend their ability to re- place it. At this moment a very large proportion of these holders are in arrear with their rent, and are in debt to the storekeepers, and their condition is most pitiable. No wonder that people in such a case fall an easy prey to unscrupulous agitators.
The present unsatisfactory relations of landlord and ten- ant are much to be deplored, and any worthy attempts to place them on a better footing should be hailed with satis- faction by the British public. But as far as legislation has gone in the past, it appears in some quarters even to have embittered rather than improved their relations, and to my mind the cause is not difficult to find. "The Land- lord and Tenant Ireland Act, 1870," recognised the tenant's right to his improvements in the land, but while it recognised a right and raised a hope in the mind of the tenant, its pro- visions were so intricate, and the modes of recovery for improve- ments so expensive, that its practical utility is almost nil in the case of the poorest class of tenants. Any Act to meet the requirements of the small holdings must be exceedingly simple and clear in its definitions, capable of being strictly enforced, at the same time inexpensive in its working. The Act of 1870 is beyond the reach and requirements of the bulk of the small peasant-farmers of Ireland.
But could not its provisions be simplified, so as to bring it within the reach of the poorest tenant F Taking the Act of 1870 as a basis on which to found a tenant's claim to improve- ments effected by him in his holding, would it not be com- petent for Government to appoint and pay assessors or valuers for given districts, whose business it should be to examine and certify improvements effected by a tenant, on receiving notice from him that such improvements had been so effected ; and in case of tenants being evicted, to assess the value of the tenant's improvements, the Courts, appointed under the Act of 1870, -ordering payment by the landlord on production of their certi- ficates F There is also a growing feeling that the time is not very far distant when some such arrangement as this will also have to come into force for fixing the rental of properties in Ire- land, and for settling disputes between owner and occupier.
The sooner English people recognise the fact that the tenure of land in many parts of Ireland is in no way allied to any English tenure, and that it cannot be governed by the same rules, the better for both countries. Taking the district I have named in Galway, the whole reclamation has been done and the cabin built at the expense of the tenant, and I have no hesitation in saying that the value of the tenant's outlay in money and labour exceeds from three to six times the un- reclaimed value of the fee-simple. In support of this, I may mention one case that came under my notice, where a tenant had taken a holding of twenty-eight acres for £4 10s., on which he had built a house, and commenced reclaiming the land. This holding, for grazing or any purpose, would be very dear at £410s. Yet all the similar holdings in the district that had been reclaimed for some time were let at from 220 to £25 per annum. Yet the only outlay I could hear of the land- lord having made on this estate (with a population of 14,000 people on it), was that some years ago he had given such of his tenants as would put them in, windows and doors for their
cabins. Is it to be wondered at that the people are up in arms against a system by which the landlords can, and in many cases do, double and treble the rental of their properties with- out spending a shilling upon them, and where the whole in- crease in the letting value has been effected by the persons who are called upon to pay the increased rent ?
That these holdings are very often rack-rented at the present time there can be no manner of doubt, though it is quite true that in the past the tenants have been themselves partly to blame. But when we look at the fact that no employment for wages can be got, and that without the plot of land they are face to face with absolute starvation, whilst with it there is a possibility of existence, what wonder that the poor little tenants outbid one another, and have raised the price of land to its present untenable position ? Under any cir- cumstances, we have a population, vividly described in Mr. Tuke's pamphlet, only one remove from a state of starvation, and in such parts as the Bay of Galway from Spiddal tc Carraroe (the scene last winter of the resistance to process- serving, or, as they locally term it, " the battle," between the people and the police, in which the latter were defeated), a population far too great for the land to support. Here, there- fore, I see no remedy but emigration, and I was surprised to find many of the people most anxious to emigrate, if they had the means. Some have gone to America this summer, being assisted by private means, and many who have previously done so are now helping those they have left behind to follow, both here and throughout Connemara. I found that the priests, many of them, not only approve of the emigration that is taking place, but are actively assisting it ; and if relief took this form in many cases, it would be much better than the useless relief works that are being carried out in many instances in the county of Galway. To see gangs of men employed in taking a few feet off the crown of a hill on the splendid Connemara roads, and removing it into the valleys, when such work is of no possible advantage, and their tools are worn-out pick-axes and the turf-spade of the country, is most depressing. In the poorer districts, one man only from a house was finding em- ployment at ls. per day, though all were anxious for it ; while in cases where the poverty was not so great, all corners were receiving work, the men at ls. 3d. and ls. 6d. per day, the boys at 9d. and 10d., the reason doubtless being that the poorer districts could not grant the large amounts required, as the rates would not bear the strain necessary for its repayment.
In conclusion, I would urge that, in such districts as these, to give the people more land is no remedy, for they are not generally iu a position to work it. Even to make them owners of their holdings by purchase would only aggravate their poverty (un- less in very exceptional cases). But that by emigration they do well is abundantly proved by the enormous sum that is con- stantly flowing into Ireland from those who have already emigrated. If the action of the Land Act of 1870 could be sim- plified so as to make it effective, many tenants would be only too glad to realise their holdings, and make use of the money for emi- gration ; and if by these means rents assumed their proper relation
to the nature of the land, it would help the residue who might still struggle on at home. It is a striking fact, that wherever you find large numbers of peasant-occupiers in Ireland, it is on land that is naturally bad and unprofitable for large occupa- tions,—land which in England and Scotland would be devoted to game or to pasturage ; and in face of American competition, it is more than probable that in Ireland also such land must go to these uses, however hardly the people may struggle against their fate.—I am, Sir, &c., Danthorpe Hall, Hull.
WALTER M. STACK BEY.
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