The Compensation for Evictions (Ireland) Bill has been strug- gling
painfully through Committee all the week, Mr. Gibson, Lord Randolph Churchill, Lord George Hamilton, and Mr. Gorst having displayed as much resource as Mr. Parnell himself in their efforts to discredit the Government in relation to it. Lord George Hamilton raised a great discussion on Tuesday on the discrepancy between the returns of ejectments and the actual evictions, though Mr. Forster had always explained that not all the actions for ejectment had resulted in evictions, though many had ; and in the case of those which had not, not a few of the tenants had been ultimately left in possession of their former houses only as " care-takers," though no longer in possession of the farms. A certain progress has been made in Committee, in spite of resistance, and Mr. Gladstone has declared that it is the intention of the Govern- ment "to take the definitive judgment of the House upon the
Bill, and not to be defeated by the kind of opposition which has lately been going forward." When the proper time arrives, Mr. Gladstone will move to substitute for the third condition, entitling the tenant to compensation in spite of non-payment of rent during the temporary period of distress, the following,—" Provided that such terms are refused by the landlord, without the offer of any reasonable alternative ;" and this, if carried, will supersede the additional clause pro- posed by the Attorney-General for Ireland. The Government have agreed to limit the scope of the Bill to holdings under a given rental, which will probably be either £30 or £50. Above some limit such as this, there is neither the same motive for clearing the estates, nor is there on the part of the tenant the same degree of dependence.
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