The first great fight on the Irish Land Bill came
off on Monday, when Mr. Disraeli moved that the compensation for eviction pro- vided in Clause 3 should be limited by the insertion of the words "in respect of unexhausted improvements made by him, or any pre- decessor in title, and of interruption in the completion of any course of husbandry suited to the holding." As the Government were known to be about to remodel the clause so as to separate compen- sation for improvements from compensation for eviction, this struck at one main idea of the Bill. We have described the drift of the debate elsewhere, but may add here that Mr. Disraeli was beaten by 296 to 220, but that a concession has subsequently been made on one of Mr. Disraeli's points. He urged that the withdrawal of the landlord's option of compelling the tenant to take a 31 years' lease greatly increased the hardship of the fine on eviction, and on Thursday Mr. Gladstone pointed out that the offer would be one of the " equities " considered by the Court in awarding compensa- tion. This weakens the tenant's " right " somewhat, though not so much as an obligation to take a lease would have done, because the landlord to establish his " equity " will have to show that his lease was fair.