nds the value of a single farm may exceed the limit of any one
advance, and it is not uncommon for a large grazier to rent many grass
farms. If the Government, by conferring a judicial status on the Estate
Commissioners, surrendered their control over the amounts of single
advances; and again, if the Government, at the dictation of Mr. Dillon,
embarked on a new policy of creating tenancies in grass land and selling
them to new men, they are debarred from increasing the estimate to cover
their own misfeasance. In tendering the speculative estimate of 1903, it
was clearly laid down that the amount of one advance was only to be
increased in rare cases, and the sub-division of permanent pasture was
denounced as a "form of economic insanity." It was also explained that
deductions must be made from the 490,000 holdings in respect of small
town plots, accommodation plots, and market gardens; nor are these
insignificant, for to the 80,000 holdings not exceeding one acre we must
add 62,000 of from 1 to 5 acres. In the face of these facts, the
assumption that "all agricultural land"--as defined in the Return--will
be sold, is not only unsound but preposterous.

The second assumption, that the average price of future transactions
will equal that of past transactions is opposed to the presumption that
better, and therefore dearer farms, came into the market before worse
and therefore cheaper farms. I am not referring to the number of years'
purchase offered, a point on which I have never expressed an opinion,
but to the value of the property which passes. It is with farms as with
oranges, the good ones go first. The pertinence of this maxim to land
purchase is proved by the reports of the Estates Commissioners. These
contradict the Government's second assumption, for they exhibit a
steady and continuous decline in the average of advances that have been
made. The average amount of advances under the Act of 1903 to March 31,
1908, was in round numbers L361. On some such figures the second
assumption rests. I ventured at the time to assert that the average in
the future would not exceed L300. This estimate has been confirmed, for
the average advances from March 31, 1908, to September 15, 1909--when
the Act ceased to operate--was L287. A further reduction may be
confidently expected, since the progress of purchase in the richer
provinces has by far exceeded its progress in Connaught. In Leinster
over 53,000 agreements have been lodged a