CO Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Toronto http://archive.org/details/landlordstenantOOdunf Mr r\ 3- fi v; i ' § £ £ £ LANDLORDS AND TENANTS IN IRELAND LONDON : PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET LANDLORDS AND TENANTS IN IRELAND BY FINLAY DUN AUTHOR OF FARMING AND FOOD IN AMERICA VETERINARY MEDICINES, THEIR ACTIONS AND USES ' ETC. LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1881 All rights reserved . HD PREFACE. During the past winter, at the request of the proprietors of the ' Times,' I visited Ireland to inquire into the subjects of land tenure and estate management, and the condition of tenants and labourers. The results of my inquiry were published in the ' Times ' in a series of letters, which, by the courtesy of the proprietors, I am now enabled to reproduce with such additions and alterations as have seemed necessary. FINLAY DUN. Estate Offices, 2 Portland Place, London, W. Aprils l88l « CONTENTS. PAGE I. Introductory I II. The Marquis of Downshire's Blessington Estates ,,..,, 13 III. The Duke of Leinster's Estates 20 IV. Earl Fiizwilliam's Estates , 30 V. The Marquis of Waterford's Estates at Cur RAGHMORE. .,,,,,, 43 VI. The Duke of Devonshire's Estates 54 VII. Estates between Cork and Killarney 65 VIII. Lord Bandon's and Lord Krnmare's Estates 73 IX, Trinity College and the Knight of Kerry' Estates , 82 X, Estates in Down and Antrim . 97 XI, The London Companies and Irish Society's Estates , . , , , , , "3 XII. Estates in Derry, Ennishowen, and Tyrone 132 XIII. The Small Occupiers and Owners of Ulster 144 XIV. Donegal Mountain Estates . f t 158 XV, Estates in Donegal and Sligo , . , 171 XVI. Sir Henry Gore-Booth's Sligo Estates . 187 XVII. Lord Dillon's Estates. , , , 201 XVIII. Landlords and Tenants in Mayo , 208 XIX. Tenure and Tenants in North-West Mayo 222 XX. Estates and Farming in South Mayo 235 XXL Land Tenure: » , General Conclusions. 252 • ^ DONEGAL 1,380 Owners. Lord Conynghan Lord Caledon. 29.236. FERMANAGH Lord Costlestuart, I 32.615. 24.751, 20.695 LEITRIM J \ Lord Enniskilleri, ARMAGH 25.635. 3.510. rCoNGFORD ' 312 OV-re- Kme Barman. it,,.. ;,„, i^r ltirlmr.l lVrrM b'C. ( 10,319 c MEATH 19,898. 1.046 Owners. T. L. Naper, 33,543. Sir Thomas Burke, 25.258. Lord Ardilaun, 67,337 WICKLOW 507 Owners. 16.609. Fitzwllliarj j Lord jlLaToi names of the Counti.i iti,lic.ne t LANDLORDS AND TENANTS IN IRELAND. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. The ^landlords of Ireland are comparatively few in number, and many hold large estates. The tenants are numerous, their farms are small/ one-half the holdings are under fifteen acres. Nearly half the area of the island is owned by 750 proprietors, each enjoying upwards of 5,000 acres. Many large estates unfortunately illustrate the evils of subdivided tenancies too small to furnish decent subsistence for their holders. In the poor county of Mayo, for example, nine owners hold upwards of 20,000 acres, or together half a million acres, being considerably more than one-third of the county. At the opposite extremity of the social scale, with few intermediate connecting links, are half a million small occupiers, half of whom pay on an average 6/. of annual rent. The land map of Ireland, officially prepared for the Dooms- day Book, and reproduced at the beginning of this volume, presents the number of owners of upwards of one acre in each B % — , INTRODUCTORY. county, the names of the landlords of the largest domains, with the number of statute acres which they hold in each county. The peasant and yeoman owners possessing from ten to 500 acres—a very important class, on whom should depend much of the agricultural prosperity and social stability of the country—are few and scattered. Although the land sales under the Church Act of 1869 have added about 6,000 new owners, and those under the Bright's clauses of the Land Act of 1870 have contributed 710, the total roll of peasant and yeoman proprietors hold amongst them only one-eighth of the area of their country. In England this useful class of owners hold one-third of the land. The subjoined tables from the Doomsday Book, and from returns presented to the House of Commons, August 10, 1876, furnish the number of owners in Ireland, classified ac- cording to their different acreages, with the area held by each class : Owners Extent in statute acres Less than r acre 36.144 9.065 1 and under 10 acres 6,892 28,968 TO 50 -. 7.746 195.525 5o 1 100 ,, 3-479 250. 147 100 5°o ». 7.989 1.955.536 500 ,, 1,000 ,, 2,716 1,915,528 1,000 ,, 2,003 ,, 1,803 2.514.743 2,000 ,, 5,000 ,, 1,198 3,675,267 5,000 ,, 10,000 ,, 452 3,154,628 , , 10,000 , 20, OOO 185 2.478,493 20,000 ,, 50,000 ,, 90 2.558.850 50,000 ,, IOO.OOO ,, 14 1,023,677 100,000 and upwards 3 397.079 68,711 20,157,511 Landlords, tenants, and labourers, it has hitherto been believed, have many interests in common. Recently, how- ever, in various parts of Ireland their interests appear to AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS. have become seriously dislocated. They are disposed to array themselves in unfriendly antagonism. Capital and labour are unprofitably at variance. (Several untoward seasons, bad crops, and low prices of some articles of pro- duce have caused much widespread agricultural distress.) As in Great Britain, many farmers have been entirely ruined. It is generally -believed that 140,000 tenants, or one-fifth of the whole number, in Ireland are bankrupt Many farms, in consequence, are worse cultivated or stocked than for- profits still merly ; become further reduced ; the tenants' ability to pay rents and other dues is impaired. Credit, often too readily obtained in more prosperous time's, is shortened. Repayments of old obligations are insisted upon. Without money, without credit, stranded, as it were, and almost disheartened, many farmers and their friends anxiously inquire into the causes of these difficulties and disasters. Many and varied are the causes propounded. With half the population of Ireland deriving their livelihood from the soil, and more than half her income drawn from land, without the extensive diversified industrial resources of England or Scotland, the recent agricultural depression has told very seriously throughout Ireland.^ Landlords are blamed for absenteeism, for neglecting their duties, foi allowing great portions of their estates to remain in unpro- fitable waste, for putting forth small effort to assist, guide, or elevate their tenants/ for charging more than Griffith's valuation. Relatively to their number, it may, however, fairly be said that there are in Ireland as many good and improving landlords as there are good and improving tenants. Occupiers are blamed for apathy, idleness, and b2 INTRODUCTORY. neglect of their opportunities. Many for years, with good security, have held useful land, which has not been drained, or has been tilled only in a very perfunctory manner. The State is blamed for supinely allowing large tracts of land in many parts of Ireland to remain in comparative waste, while a considerable proportion of the cultivated area is, more- over, very indifferently managed. Some of the legislative measures adopted for the relief of Irish agricultural distress have not worked as successfully as might have been an- ticipated. Not all the new landlords created under the Encumbered Estates Court have been improvements on those they superseded. The Land Act of 1870 has not ful- filled all the good expected from it. It has tended to paralyse landlords' improvements, and has not sufficiently encouraged or protected tenants' improvements. In har- mony with Irish traditions it wisely recognises the posses- sory interest of the tenant. When paying less than 50/. of yearly rent, he is awarded compensation if he is wrong- fully disturbed. To establish his claims he is, however, driven to appeal to a law court, to stand forth in antagonism to his landlord, and thus usually to destrov his chance of retaining his holding. Rather than thus run the risk of being removed, he submits to almost any advance of rent or to other arrangements detrimental to his interests. The Act is powerless even in Ulster to prevent excessive raising of rent, which, insisted on, either pauperises the tenant or practically evicts him. The fact that exorbitant advances of rent are sometimes made, and are possible, affords wide- spread material for agitation. Whilst granting compensa- tion for the disturbance of tenants paying less than 50/. of annual rent, no protection is accorded to those above that SHORTCOMINGS OF THE LAND ACT. 5 amount, who often bring to their vocation proportionately more capital and intelligence, who sometimes furnish the much-needed employment to the day-labourer and smaller tenant, and whose interests and improvements demand greater consideration and protection. As in England, want of capital intelligently used is one chief cause of agricultural failure and distress. Neverthe- less, neither landlords nor tenants take advantage of the liberally-provided facilities for borrowing money for build- ing, draining, and other improvements. Tenants generally have been more indifferent than landlords in effecting such improvements ; they have grudged the percentage, or feared an increase of rent. They are too generally disposed to adjure the State for aid, and to depend too little on their own imperfectly-used resources. Owners and occupiers alike fail to realise that no legislation can be expected in- variably to ensure the satisfactory conduct of such businesses as landowning or farming, which demand for their success- ful issue individual ability, enterprise, special knowledge, and adequate capital.