[83] For an account of this legislation, which has not received the attention it deserves, as it is limited in its scope, see ‘Cherry and Wakley,’ pp. 468-472, and ‘Barton,’ pp. 104-106.
[84] Upwards of thirty years ago, when the question of compensating Irish tenants for their improvements was coming fully to the front, a wealthy middleman, who held a large demesne in perpetuity, at a rather high rent, and had built a valuable mansion on it, in addition to planting hundreds of acres of woodland, asked me ‘if I thought Parliament would compensate him, for, in that case, he could make his landlord pay him £30,000.’ My reply was that ‘Parliament would not be so insane.’ I should be sorry to make such a reply now, having regard to recent legislation.
[85] I believe I may claim some credit for having contributed to this provision. I had had large experience of the injustice of keeping tenants subject to long-standing arrears; and, as a judge, had taken strong measures to prevent and defeat the practice.
[86] For an elaborate account of the Act which was the result of this Bill, see the work of Mr. Justice Barton, ‘The Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1896.’
[87] ‘Letter to a Member of the National Assembly,’ vol. i. p. 478.
[88] A Committee of the House of Lords sate, in 1872, to consider the administration of the Land Act of 1870. The report and the evidence were, in the main, in favour of the judges.
[89] Rushe v. Whitney, Roscommon Quarter Sessions, October, 1895.
[90] Lord Salisbury in the House of Lords, August 1, 1881: ‘They are all three strong Liberals, with strong views of tenant right.... There is no doubt that all three are appointed with a strong prepossession in favour of views which are advocated by the representatives of the tenantry in Ireland, and which are deprecated by the landlords.... It is not the relegation of landlord and tenant to an impartial tribunal.’
[91] Mr. Gladstone, July 22, 1881: ‘I shall be bitterly disappointed with the operation of the Act if the property of the landlords of Ireland does not come to be worth more than twenty years’ purchase on the judicial rent.’ Mr. W. E. Forster, same date: ‘I think the final result of the measure will be, within a few years, that the landowners of Ireland, small and large, will be better off than they are at this moment.’ Lord Carlingford, August 1, 1881: ‘My Lords, I maintain that the provisions of this Bill will cause the landlords no money loss whatever. I believe that it will inflict upon them no loss of income, except in those cases in which a certain number of landlords may have imposed upon their tenants excessive and inequitable rents.’
[92] Hansard, vol. 260, p. 1399.