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The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland,
[DECEMBER, 1910
believed will improve the efficiency of the
County
Courts
of
Ireland,
may
be
accomplished (applause).
MR. W. V. SEDDALL (Vice-President)
said :—I have much pleasure in seconding
the adoption of the Report.
In doing so I
do not intend to inflict a speech upon you.
After your hearing
the address of
the
President and after reading the Report, I
think you will be satisfied that the members
of the Society whom you have placed on the
Council have at all events done their best
during the year in
the interests of
the
Profession (hear, hear).
MR. FRY :—I want to say a few words
on the Irish Land Acts.
The Report which has been submitted
contains no
reference
to the Irish Land
Acts,
because
"during
the
past
year
there lias been no
new
legislation; but
I think that at a gathering of Solicitors,
such as we see here to-day, it is only fitting
and right that we should express our views
on the condition of affairs as we find them
in this country. Now it is quite possible
for members of the. Incorporated Law Society
to discuss burning questions from a purely
professional point of view, and, representing
as we do every shade of political opinions,
every class of the community, whether land
lords,
tenants, incumbrancers, commercial
men, and ourselves, we are surely entitled
to express our opinions
as
to whether
measures
affecting
land
in
Ireland are
working for good or for ill; and I go further
and say that I claim that it is not alone our
privilege, but it is our duty to give expression
to our views if we think we can thereby assist
the general public in consideration of the
matter.
It
is
impossible
to
avoid coming
to
the conclusion that the Land Question is at
the root of every trouble in Ireland. Talk
as we may, we cannot get away from the
land, for every citizen—aye, every inhabitant
of this island—is more or less directly or
indirectly dependent on the products of land.
It is manifest that if the dwellers on the land
are in a state of turmoil and trouble and in a
condition of unrest and unsettlement, agri
culture is neglected, and the land does not
give forth at its best that which Nature
intended. The result is that those who are
dependent on rents to be produced or paid by
the occupier of the soil must be largely
prejudiced, and it follows that those who
have claims on the
landowners, such as
incumbrancers, annuitants, or creditors, in
their turn are materially affected also ;
so
that the question is one which touches us
all, and must be dealt with by us in a calm
and dispassionate spirit, and it is from this
point of view that I propose to approach the
subject very briefly to-day.
Most of us have had experience in carrying
through land sales under the provisions of the
Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1903, and we know
that as long as there was an abundance of cash
provided by the British Treasury the sales
went through without any great difficulty
and with obvious advantage to all parties
concerned :
in our own experience, as pro
fessional men, the working of the Wyndham
Act was most beneficial. When estates were
sold agrarian agitation ceased,
the new
owners put energy and spirit into
their
labours in the land, co-operative societies for
the purpose of securing better prices were
started by the farmers, and the face of the
country was rapidly changing for the better.
Time went on, however, and the British
Treasury found that they were unable to
float loans of Irish Stock at terms which made
it remunerative or, indeed, possible to raise
cash except at a loss, and after introducing
a Bill in the year 1908, which was read a
second time in the House of Commons on
the 8th December of that year, we find that
in
the year 1909 Mr. Birrell,
the Chief
Secretary for Ireland, carried through the
Irish Land Act of 1909.
Now whatever may have been the inten
tions of
the Government, the results of
the working
so
far of
the recent Act
have not been satisfactory. We, as pro
fessional men, know only
too well
that
land purchase negotiations have practically
terminated since the passing of the Act of
1909, and the alterations in, or abrogations
of, certain of the Sections of the Act of 1903,
which- had worked for years so successfully.
The provisions of the Act of 1909 are familiar
to you all, but, shortly stated, the effect of
the law of the Act of 1909 was to raise the
tenants' purchase annuity from 3J per cent.—
the
rate under
the Wyndham Act—to
3J per cent. This at once affected possible
tenant purchasers. Then, as regards
the