THE IRISH LAND BILL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 7915, 1 October 1909, Page 2

THE IRISH LAND BILL.

Per Press Association —Copyright. LONDON, September 30. ' The second reading of the Bill was carried without division. On the amendment to reject the Bill, Lord Ourzon urged careful examination of the. Bill m the interests of the British taxpayers upon whom an enormous financial responsibility;-, was thrown. The Bill meant an agrarian revolution as important as any re- ' volution that might be expected m the Budget. Its underlying principle* were Socialistic, and could not be confined to Ireland. Events had not detracted from the value of Mr Wyndham's Act, which was almost a solitary instance of legislation by agreement. Hg had great belief m the system of "round table"' conferences, which, might be. usefully applied to such questions as education, extension of the liquor traffic, redistribution and the suffrage. The Government had not maintained a continuity owing to the exigencies of the Irish Party. It was not m the interest of the latter to see the land question settled amicably and easily. A vast system of expropriation had been introduced. He foreshadowed the scattering of the evicted landlords broadcast over Ireland. Mr Wyndham's Act could be properly . worked if the requisite sum was provided. He hoped the House would alter the Bill with no trembling hand. , Lord Macdonnell said that he considered that the introduction of compulsion would terminate amicable dealings. The^ Bill could be made a useful' supplement to Mr Wyndham's Act. After other speeches Lord Crewe remarked that to increase or diminish or vary a charge on the public funds had not hitherto been considered ta fall within the province of the House of Lords.

Lord Loreburn said that the Government was filling to define m the Bill a limited exercise of compulsion.