20
rents have been fixed in almost all the holdings in Ireland that came within the Act of 1881. Various amending statutes were passed in 1887—admitting leaseholders—in 1891 and 1896. It will, perhaps, be convenient, before considering the question of Land Purchase, to summarise here the work done under these Acts.
The entire number of rents fixed under the Land Law Acts to the 31st March, 1916, where the parties applied to have fair rents fixed for a first statutory term, was 381,687. The total rental dealt with was £7,523,816, and the aggregate judicial rent fixed in respect thereof was £5,968,174, the result being an average reduction of 20·7 per cent, over the entire country. The number of cases struck out, withdrawn, or dismissed was 75,681, of which latter some were disposed of on subsequent applications. The total number of cases disposed of during the period from August, 1881, to 31st March, 1916, was therefore 457,368 for a first statutory term.
The entire number of rents fixed to the 31st March, 1916, for a second statutory term was 143,394. The total rental in these cases for the first statutory term was £2,571,983, and the aggregate judicial rent fixed in respect of the same for a second statutory term was £2,074,512, the result being an average reduction of 193 per cent, on first term rents. The number of applications in such cases struck out, withdrawn or dismissed was 20,897. The total number of second term cases disposed of to 31st March, 1916, was, therefore, 164,291.
The entire number of rents fixed to the 31st March, 1916, for a third statutory term was 5,007. The total rental in these cases for the second statutory term was £84,558, and the aggregate judicial rent fixed in respect of the same for a third statutory term was 76,799, the result being an average reduction of 92 per cent, on second term rents. The number of applications in such cases struck out, withdrawn, or dismissed was 325. The total number of third term cases disposed of to 31st March 1916, was, therefore, 5,332.
SECTION IX.
Differences between the English and the Irish Land Systems.
It may fairly be asserted that, so far as the occupying tenantry was concerned, there was no more objectionable land system in Europe than that which prevailed in Ireland before 1870, and no more favourable system than that which exists at the present time. To appreciate the agrarian situation in Ireland at the point at which we have arrived, it is necessary to keep in mind the fundamental difference between the English
