rations, by
reclamation of waste lands--when a certain improvement in the value of
the lands reclaimed will be produced, so that the legal heirs will not
be prejudiced, can be made, a certain advance shall be made from the
public funds." The usual rate of interest for such advances from the
Treasury used to be five per cent.; by the act of 1846 the rate payable
on such advances was reduced to three and a half per cent., with
repayment in twenty-two years; making six and a half per cent, in each
year, until the expiration of twenty-two years, when the advance,
principal and interest, would be repaid. The Government now proposed to
take the terms of the Drainage Act, and to extend them to various
improvements, not confining the operation of the measure to drainage
alone; and to do away with those technical difficulties which arose
under the former Act, and which rendered it difficult for tenants for
life to borrow money. This Act only applied to private estates, but the
Government now intended to consolidate former Drainage Acts of a more
general nature, so that the drainage of districts could be carried out
by the majority of the proprietors of any district agreeing upon the
drainage of such district, the minority being bound by their acts. 2. A
further announcement, and a very striking one, was made by the Premier;
namely, that the Government intended to propose that the State should
undertake the reclamation of a portion of the waste lands in Ireland; he
alluded to various reports of Commissions upon the reclamation of waste
lands, and to the works of eminent writers, who were of opinion that, in
many cases, the reclamation of such waste lands would provide profitable
employment for large masses of the people; and would render land, now
valueless, of great value, as it would be made capable of cultivation.
He quoted Sir Robert Kane (then Dr. Kane), who said, "in his most
interesting work on the Industrial Resources of Ireland," that the
estimate, that 4,600,000 acres of waste land might be reclaimed, and be
reduced to the condition of cultivated land, was by no means an
exaggerated estimate. "We propose, then, sir," continued Lord John, "to
devote a million to this purpose, and that the land reclaimed should, if
the proprietor is willing to part with it, be purchased from him, but
that if he does not improve it in the method just before stated, by
loan, or by his own resources, and _if he refuses to sell it, there
shoul