THE CONFERENCE ON IRISH LAND.
rTo THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."f
Sra,—There is much to be said in support of that clause in the Conference Report which declares the tenant's instal- ments should be from 15 to 25 per cent, less than the rents recently fixed by the Land Courts (the so-called "second-term rents "). Remember that the purchasers are asked to commit themselves to a liability terminable seventy, eighty, perhaps a hundred years hence, and who can tell what will be the money value of land even fifty years hence ? It is true that the great abundance of the new gold from the mines promises deprecia- tion of the standard of deferred payments, or, in other words, promises a rise of prices, in which case the payment of the instalments will become easier each year. But it is wiser in a " deal " so vast and so far-reaching to assume that prices, as during the past quarter of a century, will continue to fall, and that 25 per cent, is no excessive margin of error. For suppose a farmer, say in Sussex, had bought his farm on the instalment plan in 1860. Average Sussex land was at that time worth 235 per acre, and has since fallen to 215. So that in the case of this farmer his indebtedness to the State on his remaining instalments might be greater than the fee-simple value of his land to-day. It would be unfortunate if the assumption of stability of value in money were to prove so fallacious that the new Irish pro- prietary twenty years hence was found in a position equitably to demand a revision on the ground of a further rise in the value of money. It would be better if the State said to-day : 'We are enabling you to buy on terms equivalent to a 25 per cent. reduction of your rents for fear the depre- ciation of land values may continue, and may upset our calculations.' It is evident from the last paragraph but two of the Report—which paragraph, by the way, contains an obvious slip of the pen—that the Conference had in view the changes in land values likely to occur during a period so pro- •
[No doubt; but after all every purchaser and every mort- gagee has to run the risk of falling prices. We cannot see that the Irish purchasing tenant is worse off in this respect than other people.—En. Spectator.]
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