THE MURDER OF MR. CROTTY.—AN AUCKLANDER'S EXPERIENCE OF IRISH TENANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6827, 4 October 1883, Page 3

THE MURDER OF MR. CROTTY.—AN AUCKLANDER'S EXPERIENCE OF IRISH TENANTS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —The last cable news brought the intelligence that a prominent landlord in County Mayo, named Grotty, had been shot. As I was intimately acquainted with that gentleman and his tenantry for several years, perhaps a Utile information about both, might be of interest to your readers. About 29 years ago I took it into my head to try farming in the west of Ireland ; and my father chiming in with my notion, I w«nt to Castlebar, via Dublin and Athlone, The* • journey was very pleasant, the only drawback being the hordes of impudent beggars who besieged the coach at every Btopping place. In a short time I heard of a farm for lease, fifteen miles from Castkbar, and about the same distance from Westport, and I took, it on a long lease, subject to the sole proviso of my father's approval wh»n he had time to come and inspect the property ; till then, ifr was a yearly tenancy. * The farm was a w'ild expanse of bog, moorland, lake, aud mountain, lying at the foot of a mountain called Slieve Bohaan, 1000 feet high, and stretching up its slopes. There was a splendid view of the mountains Croagh Patrick, 2900 feet, and Nephin, 3500 feet, and also the Killeries in Connernara; while, on the side of the mountains lay stretched the great chain of the Irish Lakes, notably Lough Mask and Louhg Corrib. The farm was 3000 acres with the right of shooting over 18,000 acres more; and, grouse, harts, wild geese, and ducks, plover, snipe, and ptarmigan were plentiful, as well as trout iu the lakes, and salmon in the rivers. The owner of the property was Mr. Crotty, who resided on an adjoining farm called Maumeen, adjacent to the villages of Killavalla and Kiltharsaghaa. He was a man of about thirty years, well educated, and pleasant mannered, but he had.a forbidding face, one eye having been.

blown out by a gun accident, and a scheming look in the other that was very repellant. £ soon found out that it did not belie him, for he was, a most scheming and litigious man, and had also inaugurated a system of espionage amongst his tenantry, and conacre tenants. By conacre tenants, I mean those who leased small buildings from him for a year or two only, at a rack rent, with leave to pare off the turf or Bward, and burn ifc as manure for the flax crop. In that portion of the estate leased by me, there were seven or eight families and cabins, who became my personal tenants, and with, the generosity of youth, I resolved to personally attach these people to me in every way I could. I employed thesn. constantly on the farm at 25 per cent, higher wages than the current rates, gave them leave to out all their turf in my bogs and dry it on my grass lands, gave them, leave to fish in my lakes and streams, gave them their cottages rent free altogether, and also gave them their conacre holdings free, on the sole condition that thsy would - each bring me a creel of dried turf weekly from my bog for my own use. I ameliorated their condition by all means in my power, I subscribed liberally to their chapels and their fetes, I looked after their sick, I stood godfather to their children, I bought little presents of various sorts for them whenever I went to town, I had social reunions weekly at my house, when I feasted them royally, and they danced and drank to their hearts' content. To make a long story short, after I had been there about two and a-half years my father came over to see how I was getting on, and he took such a violent dislike to Mr. Crotty, that he left at once, advising me to throw up the lease at the expiry of the year. I did so. Now comes the illustration, of Irish gratitude, showing what the tenantry were like. The day before my departure I gave a farewell feast to my tenantry and their friends ; and my place was crowded with such a merry lot that I felt quite sorry to leave them. Next morning, just as I was starting, up came one, and with a hangdog look demanded payment of 5s for his pony, which he lent me for one day six months previously. This pony was borrowed when, my horse was lame, merely to ride to Westport to get a doctor for that very man's sick | child. I paid it. Then another came and demanded 5s for going to Westport a few months ago to get medicine for the sick children of his own brother-in-law, at my cost. 1 paid him, too. Up rose a third, demanding 5s also, for going to Castlebar to fetch whisky at my cost to wake his own son. I paid it, also. Then rose, a fourth, demanding payment for some trout he had given me, out of a cart load he had netted, in my own lake, by my permission, and which were eaten by him and his friends, along with lots of other things, the same night. I demurred to this as preposterous, and then, they threw off the mask, and demanded payment for the weekly creels of turf they had brought to me for the last three years; that being the only rent I required for their cottages, their holdings, and the right to cui turf and bracken on my land. (Be it understood that Mr. Crotty charged them £1 per acre for flax land, also 10s a year for leave to cut turf, and 5s a week for their cabins.) I absolutely refused to pay a cent mow, and then one impudent fellow, to whom I had been specially kind, laid hold of my horse's bridle to stop me. I brought down my heavy riding whip with tremendous force on his hand, and 1 believe broke two of his fingers, and rode away, followed by a volley of Irish cu/ses, and metaphorically shaking the dost off my feet at them. Since then I have been a Hibernophobist. Such are the tenaptry j who have lately murdered Mrs Crotty.—l am, &c, Alfred Sharps. October 1.