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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 47, 21 March 1884, Page 25

Those who predicted that the principles of the Irish Laud Act would soon find their way into legislation for England will probably see some confirmation of their fears in the Compensation for Disturbance Bill iwhich Mi-. A. Cohen, Q.C., has agreed to draft for the Southwark Committee on the Dwellings oi the Poor. The facts on ■which the bill is based is familiar enough ; the poor are constantly being ejected en masse from neighbourhoods contiguous to their places of labour, which they have inhabited for years, while the small property holders — whose tenants they are — or equally small leaseholders, are compensated at the expense of the public. Mr. Cohen's bill proposes, therefore, that weekly tenants shall be compensated in accordance with the duration of their tenancy, |and that for the purposes of inquiry and assessment a board of commissioners, consisting of three members holding office for three years, shall be constituted, with the power to a«sess the measure of compensation, without any light of appeal against their decision. The proposal is chiefly significant a 9 a sign of the times ; but one thing should not be forgotten. As we have more than once noted in these columns, a species of tenant-right is already largely recognised in the form of "selling the key," in many of the poor quarters of London. — Pall Mai Gazette.