ngestion, to a new purpose, for which Ireland can make no special
claim. I mean the creation, over all Ireland, of new tenancies, to be
sold to new men, who have never suffered from dual ownership or
uneconomic conditions, and may be presumed to be ignorant of farming.
This new policy amounts to a repeal of the policy sanctioned by all,
viz. of giving special State aid to meet the peculiar needs of Ireland.

_A comparison of the results obtained under the Acts of_ 1903 _and_
1909.--In order to gauge the respective efficacy of these two Acts for
the purpose of abolishing dual ownership, it is necessary to distinguish
between applications for purchase, and advances actually made in respect
of completed transactions. The applications exhibit the comparative
popularity and convenience of the two Acts. The advances exhibit only
the readiness of the Government to proceed with purchase. They pertain
to the financial, rather than the political, aspect of the problem, and
may be examined later together with the reasons alleged for the delay of
its solution. The fact of the delay appears from the following
figures:--

Under the Irish Land Act (1903) the number of purchase agreements lodged
in respect of direct sales by landlords to tenants was 217,299 in the
course of less than six years from November 1, 1903, to September 15,
1909. To these should be added proposed purchasers in other categories,
viz. in respect of estates sold to the Land Commission for subsequent
re-sale, or to the Congested Districts Board, or in the Court of the
Land Judge, or in respect of offers to evicted tenants. These bring the
total of potential purchasers up to 248,109. Under the Act of 1909, in
two years from December 3, 1909, to December 1, 1911, the number of
applications in respect of direct sales stands at 8,992. In the other
categories the number of potential purchasers amounted to 373 up to
March 31, 1911. Since then tentative negotiations have been essayed,
under the threat of compulsion and the menace of Home Rule, which
suggest a far larger figure. But these transactions--to which I shall
return--are of an eminently dubious character. We are on safe ground if
we compare the number of tenants who were ready under the two Acts to
acquire their holdings. After discounting whatever may be claimed on the
score that the operation of the Act of 1903 was expedited by the fear of
its destruction, a comparision of 217,299 would-be purchasers in six
y