5,696,951 acres, which is less by 42,263 acres than that in 1852, and the extent in 1852 was less by 119,737 acres than in 1851."* The following abstract of the agricultural statistics for 1854 shows a further falling off to the extent of 128,575 acres.

Total Decrease in the extent of Land under Crops,

Acres. . 91,233 710

23,607

. 13,025

128,575”

Another proof of this general decline is furnished by the return of the flax crop for the last year, which presents a falling off of 54,297 acres, the entire amount for 1854, which showed a decrease on 1852 of 23,607 acres, being only 150,972 acres.†

* Thom. p. 91.

As this paper was passing through the press we received the Agricultural Statistics of 1855, which shew an increase of 112,382 acres under crops, but of these 53,873 were under the head "meadow and clover."

The late Master in Chancery, Mr. Lynch, who was as chary of the rights of landlords as any man need be, also thought that the state should not leave the reclamation of these wastes to the option and caprice of the present owners. He studied this subject more than any other man of his time, was chairman of the Committee of 1835, and proposed a measure on the subject, which, like most good ones for Ireland, fell still-born from his hands. Of this measure, and the measure that might become necessary, he thus speaks:

"The measure I proposed is merely permissive. Compulsion in matters of this kind, except where actually necessary, should not be adopted, and in this case, with the inducements held out, and with the reactive influence of the Poor Law, I do not think it necessary, at least for the present. The landlords of Ireland never had before a Poor Law, impelling them to action and improvement, and to look after their estates and waste lands. But if after a few years these wastes are not reclaimed, then I think the legislature would be justified in passing a compulsory law. The owners of these lands cannot be allowed to say, We shall not improve these lands, neither shall we avail ourselves of the legislative facilities that are afforded us. Our lands shall lie idle and unproductive. Such a course would be a breach of the social compact, and as it would be materially detrimental to their own interests, we cannot suppose it will be pursued." 11#

Mr. Mill is strong against the right of the landlord class to keep these wastes in their present barrenness, and scouts the cant about "sacredness of property" as an impediment to their reclamation. He says,

"When the sacredness of property' is talked of, it should always be borne in mind that this does not belong in the same degree to landed as to other property. No MAN MADE THE LAND. It is the original inheritance of the whole people. Public reasons exist for its being appropriated. But the distinction is vast between property in land and in moveables which are the product of labour. The latter should be absolute, except where positive evil to society would result from it. But in the case of land, no exclusive right should be permitted to any individual which cannot be shown to be productive of positive good."

"The community has too much at stake in the proper cultivation of the land, and in the conditions annexed to the occupying of it, to

Measures for Ireland, p. 57.

VOL. XXXIX.-NO. LXXVIII.

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be justified in leaving these things to the discretion of a class consisting of but a portion of the community, when they have shown themselves unfit for the trust."

He adopts the suggestion of Thornton that the wastes should be bought up by the Crown and drained and intersected with roads, and then allotted in small farms to the peasantry in perpetuity, the interest of the sums so expended being charged on each allotment "when reclaimed, as a perpetual quitrent, redeemable at a moderate number of years' purchase."

Mr. Poulet Scrope thinks that the true rule of public right with respect to the ownership of the lands of a state is that of industrial occupation, and quoting the observation of Blackstone, "As it was occupancy which gave a right to the temporary use of the soil, so it is agreed upon all bands that occupancy gave also the original right to a permanent property in the substance of the earth itself," he adds,

"It is clear that it must be industrial occupancy or use that can alone confer this right, since otherwise the principle is unintelligible. No man, strictly speaking, occupies land which he puts to no use, or turns to no advantage, public or private. It could never be that any one by merely saying, I take possession of this or that tract of land,' could establish a just title to its permanent ownership. No one could be entitled to appropriate from the common stock more land than he was enabled to, and actually did, make a beneficial use of."*

"The Institutes of Menu, which are of vast antiquity, and prevailed very generally throughout Asia, declared that any one was entitled to reclaim, fertilize, and cultivate waste land, and whoever did so thereby established a title to it as his property, on due registration of the fact. In China this law is still in force. In the absence of this fundamental law, the most fertile districts of those tropical climes, where costly works of irrigation are necessary to render the land productive, would probably have remained to this day mere jungles, the abode of wild animals alone."t

He thus strongly contrasts the effects of the Institutes of Menu and Confucius with those of the Statutes at Large.

"Ireland has, beyond the eleven millions of acres of land in the

1

island nominally in cultivation-that is, cropped, but wretchedly managed for the most part-four or five other millions of acres, still in a state of nature, absolutely wasted, though known to be capable of productive and profitable reclamation-but which the starving people are neither set to work upon by the law-made owners of these wastes, nor permitted to cultivate for themselves, except in rare instances, and on terms such as almost forbid the hope of living upon the bargain! Everywhere throughout Ireland is to be seen the spectacle of lands wanting labour only to produce abundance, and labour either perishing from want of employment, or fed in unproductive idleness on forced levies from property. While the law which compels the maintenance of the idle labourers, at the same time interdicts their putting a spade into the undrained, untilled, and wasted lands around them.......These form together a social system capable of transforming Paradise itself into a desert."p. 25.

As a means also of settling or staving off the Tenant Right Question, the reclamation of the wastes would be a good expedient. The present government have avowed their disinclination to meddle with that question, and their opinion that the law of Landlord and Tenant, as now established, should be like those of the Medes and Persians. The reclamation of the wastes would therefore be to them the easiest and pleasantest way in the world of getting rid of that difficulty. Mr. Thornton, in his " Plea for Peasant Proprietors," written in 1848, points out this as follows:

"The only unobjectionable way of enabling tenants to obtain reasonable terms from their landlords, is to diminish the competition for laud, by lessening the number of competitors. There are at present in Ireland nearly half a million of farms large enough, if held on leases, and at fair rents, to maintain the actual tenants in plenty and comfort; and there are about 400,000 smaller holdings, which might be consolidated and redistributed into 130,000 farms of eight acres each. Moreover, the farms of more than twenty acres each are 202,260 in number, comprehending about fifteen millions of acres, which would furnish occupation for about 120,000 families, in addition to those of the occupiers. Thus of the whole number of agricultural families which, in 1841, was 974,000, but which must have been considerably reduced by the famine and pestilence of the last two years, and does not probably now exceed 950,000, about 750,000 might obtain a competent livelihood from the land actually under cultivation, if relieved from the competition of the 200,000 families remaining. These last constitute a redundant population, which must be withdrawn from a field of employment in which while they have not room to work themselves,

they are always in the way of their neighbours. But whither can they be removed? Emigration cannot dispose of such multitudes, nor can they betake themselves to the sedentary occupations of towns. The employment afforded to them must be agricultural, and must be procured in Ireland, yet not on the land already under cultivation. Where, then, can they be provided for? The question admits of but one answer, They must be transferred to the waste lands.

"Of such lands Ireland contains 6,290,000 acres, of which 2,535,000 are said not to be worth the cost of improvement, but 1,425,000 are acknowledged to be improveable for tillage, and the remaining 2,330,000 for pasture. These wastes are scattered over the whole island, but it fortunately happens that they are most extensive in those counties in which there is the largest amount of destitution."-p. 216.

The only question now remaining is, what particular measure should be adopted to render the wastes available to society? First, it is obvious that the law should be so altered as to allow of the summary sale of wastes for arrears of Poor Rates, County Rates, Tithes, and other first charges, without the idle, costly, and dilatory process of suits at law and in equity, and inquiries about the title, and total failure if no title can be established. As there is no fact to be controverted, there should be no litigation. If a certain public tax is due of a particular piece of land, the land should be sold by summary process, without inquiry as to the owner, real or imaginary, as in the United States, France, and all countries where the Civil Law prevails, in the Bedford Level, in most English towns, which have recently adopted improvement acts, and London itself, under the Local Management Act of last session.

As the system of the Bedford Level seems the most perfect with which we are acquainted, we may state once more a few of its details. The Level has been reclaimed, and is preserved from the sea by means of high and strong dikes, which require constant repairs. These repairs must be paid for by those who hold the lands protected by them, and for this purpose a tax of so much per acre is imposed every spring at a meeting of the trustees. Public notice is given of this tax, and it is required to be paid at the office of the receiver before the end of June. If not paid by that time, it will not be received without a certain small addition for interest, and if not paid by the end of Septem