following from the chapter he devoted to the estates for
which I was agent.

He observes that in 1881 my firm had the supervision of eighty-eight
estates, upwards of three thousand farming tenants, and annually
collected rents to the value of a quarter of a million sterling. From
the particulars I furnished him he deduces:--

'So recently as the end of November the Lady Day rents had been well
paid up; old arrears had been reduced; on two estates in the Court of
Chancery L6000 had been collected with only a few shillings in default.
Dairy farmers prospering had been particularly well able to pay rents
and other claims. More recent rent collections, unfortunately, were not
so satisfactory. Tenants generally had earned the money, but had not
been allowed to pay it over.

'Many of the low-rented estates were badly farmed and the tenantry in
low water. On the higher rented, the struggle for existence had brought
out extra industry and energy and led to fair success.'

The following provided an apt illustration:--

'Mr. Gould Adams of Kilmachill had a small estate on the north side of a
hill rented at 20s. an acre; the rents were paid up, the tenants doing
well. On the southern aspect of the same hill, with better land, at the
devoutly desiderated Griffith's valuation, which was 16s. 4d., the
tenants were invariably hard up, some of them two years in arrears. All
tenants had free sale, averaging five years' rent.

'The larger proprietors, as a rule, were most helpful and liberal to
their tenants. Where improvements were not effected or initiated by the
landlords, they were seldom done at all. There had often been
considerable difficulty in overcoming the prejudice and "the
rest-and-be-thankful" spirit both of landlords and tenants.

'On Sir George Colthurst's Ballyvourney estate, twenty miles east of
Killarney, under Mr. Hussey's auspices about L30,000 had been expended
in draining, building, and roadmaking. The economic value of many
holdings had been doubled, although the rents had only been increased
five per cent., and subsequently the Commissioners fixed the rents at 25
per cent. less than they had been fifty years earlier.

'The extending village of Mill Street had been in great measure
reconstructed by his exertions.

'The Land League having enforced non-payment of rent, the obligation to
meet other debts was weakened. Although there was more money than usual
in the hands of the farming community, shopkeepe