LAND-PURCHASE IN IRELAND.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—In your article on Mr. Balfour's Local Government Bill, it is stated :—" If the new Purchase Act had been accepted more readily by the people, and a great body of peasant free- holders stood prepared to rale the Councils and defend the owners against unjust taxation, we should have no fear of the great internal change which the Bill will introduce."
In this statement you do not put the saddle on the right horse,—a mistake which you seldom make. The people have been far more ready than the landlords to accept the Purchase Act ; the delay in its general application is almost entirely due to the unwillingness of the landlords to sell. Time will demonstrate the necessity for adopting the policy of the Ulster Land Committee,—viz., to empower the Land De- partment to effect a sale on the application of two-thirds of the tenants on an estate. Without some such spur as this, the landlords will be slow to move.—I am, Sir, &c., S. C. M'ELROY, Hon. Sec., Ulster Land Committee. Ballymoney, February 23rd.
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