The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3077, 7 May 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1881.

Mr Forster's Irish Land Bill is a wonderful departure from the old English ideas concerning the sacredness of real estate. The principle incorporated m the measure will raise up a host of enemies against the Liberal Government, and if the bill ever becomes law it will be solely due to Mr Gladstone's influence over the followers of his party. The principle of the bill which will cause such a storm of opposition is that for the first time in English history land, io Ireland, shall be administered by its owners for the benefit of the people. Hitherto the possession of land has been regarded a" giving the right to crush the people. Mr Forster's bill regards the landlord aR a trustee compelled by law to use his powers within well-defined limits. The Melhourne Age, referring to tbe Irish Land Bill, says the doctrine of "May I not do as I like with my own?" can no longer be maintained; since the legislature has been asked to decide that, except in a very restricted degree, land cannot be said to be owned by any individual. It is not surprising that the Duke of Argyll should have oeceded *rom the Government over Mr Forster's Land Bill. The ereat English and Scotch landed proprietors cannot help foreseeing that the doctrines now to be applied to Ireland must very soon cross St. George's Channel, and that the tenant farmers of Great Britain, who control the representation in the counties, will not much longer consent to be placed in a worse position than is occupied by tbeir neighbors in the green isle of Erin. Mr Foster's bill goes quite as far a 9 the most sanguine Liberal could have expected. It will not satisfy the irreconcilable land leaguers, headed by Mr Parnell, although tbat gentleman has been forced to admit tbat the proposed measure concedes a large instalment of his demands. The three F's. fixity of tenure, free sale—the right of the tenant to sell his interest in his holding for tbe best price he can get — and fair rent, will be given by the bill. Special courts are to fix the amount of rental, which is to remain unaltered for fifteen years, during which time tbe tenant virtually will remain master of the situation. A royal commission will be appointed to aid prosperous tenants who wish to purchase their holdings in the'accomplishment of their desire, and to assist men who have been beaten in the battle of life to commence it "anew under more favorable conditions in the new worlds of America or Australia.; A contributer to the Pall Mall Gazette, who signs bimself " One who sits behind the Treasury Bench," and may therefore be supposed to be well informed, wrote in a recent number of that journal as follows:— '* The landlords of Ireland are prepared for a sweeping land bill. Many of them feel, and rightly, that the safest thing for their order is to have the question settled amicably as soon as possible, and that it is better to receive a smaller rent, regularly paid, than to have only the chance of getting a larger one after incessant contests and demands for reduction. Even those who will oppose any reform know well enough, and in private confess, that the present state of things is indetensible. For honor's sake, and that they may not yield too much, they m st make a show of fighting. But tbey are prepared to surrender all that their more reasonable brethren think justified, which is nearly all that the bulk of the peasantry call for." There is little doubt that ? large section of the House of Lords would adopt the views of the Irish landlords. The bill may strike a heavy blow at the interest of their order, and may be the prelude to changes quite as severe aDd drastic in Great Britain. But anything is better than a condition of affairs which places the landlord in a most odious light, which compels him to collect his rents at the point of the bayonet, and which virtually admits that his tenants can only be induced to acknowledge his rights by the aid of the whole civil and a large section of the military force of the country. The House of Lords has already rejected one Irish Land Bill. It is not likely to reject another, more especially after the almost universal censensus of public feeling in its favor. There is, therefore, every reason to hope—notwithstanding the secession of tbe Duke of Argyll, who with all his ability is a doctrinaire, and without much following or influence, even amongst the Liberal peers—that the House of Lords will pass Mr Foster's measure.