enforce the fines if the tenant was pre-
pared to risk the loss of the renewal of
his lease, and therefore it was to
the interests of both parties to put an
end to that state of things. An addition
was made to the rents of about 20 per
cent, which was payable by the tenants
and was subject to a variation every
ten years. Unfortunately for the
tenants, but fortunately or the College
the prices of the day happened to be
very low, compared with later on. When
the tenants came to vary their rents,
they always got a rise. Then came the
Land Act of 1881, and since that was
a fall in prices for
passed, there was
five years. It was then found by the
Fry Commission, and he though tby the
Cowper Commission, that the prices of
corn and other things on which the
variation depended had not materially
altered in the last seventeen or eighteen
years, and therefore for the tenants to
and claim revision would be
useless, because they might get a further
rise. He thought their case was a
very hard one.

come

tion.

It would be unreasonable to proceed with the proposal without notice to Trinity College that their interests were to be gravely imperilled. Every farthing which reached the pocket of that great institution had to be applied to necessary outgoings for the great cause of education, and they had no margin to go upon. The noble Lord himself had descended from a provost of Trinity College. There was not a shadow of foundation for his case when looked at fairly and reasonably. Trinity College had considerable landed estates, and it being a big seat of learning it was quite impossible for it to work those estates, and therefore they were let out to a series of wealthy leading Irish gentlemen, some of them Peers. Those gentlemen, for their own purposes, let the estates at very considerable than profit, and in more there were a series of sub-lettings and of perpetuities, and they had never heard the large amounts which the middlemen of rank and position gained by such lettings. That position existed until 1851, when the tenants joined together He agreed, however, and asked for something like a security of tenure in order that they could improve and occupy their own holdings. Trinity College, when the Government

with his noble friend Lord Rathmore it would be very difficult for their Lordships to accept the clause as it stood, because Trinity College would have a right to be heard before any thing was done. He thought the case was not on all fours with what had

been quoted with regard to the tithe rent-charge. It occurred to him when he was first asked to bring up this question that if the Government would consent, something might be done in the way of bringing in an additional bonus to the tenants of Trinity College if they sold. Of course it would be quite out of place for him to move anything of the sort, but if the Government could see their way to do something like that, they might facilitate some sales. Unless something of that sort were done he did not think they would find any middleman would be able to sell his land at the present time.

one case

fair spirit as to the fixing of the prices of approached them, met them in such a

commodities which were to measure the rents in the future that the tenants actually signed a letter of acknowledg for the consideration with which they ment thanking the Board of the College had met every one of their claims. They were given under the Act of 1851 a fixity of tenure. The rents of the middlemen have sometimes gone upwards and sometimes downwards, but at any rate until 1881 they had a chance of reaping a very substantial profit, of which they were not slow to avail themselves. The middlemen had the power to sell and to get part of the bonus but Trinity College would get none of it. Were the LORD ASHBOURNE said that what middlemen by an effort like this to step Lord Belmore had said had a sound of in almost on the last day when the Bill reasonableness and common justice. was under consideration and sweep away Would it not be perfectly monstrous when this great Bill had come to this thousands a year from the rent of the House teeming with important issues, to College. It would be both unreasonable spring into the middle of a section a and unfair for the Government to brand new system of fair-rent legisla- countenance such a proposal.

*THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE said he quite realised the force of a good deal that had been said by the noble and learned Lord, but the point still remained that sale for 10,000 tenants in Ireland was practically impossible. The noble Lord had said that the middlemen were rich men. No doubt they were in 1851, but he thought he could fairly claim that the figures which he had quoted, and which the learned Lord entirely ignored, showed an enormous decrease in their incomes from these resources and that practically there was now no margin. He did not wish to press the Amendment, but he wished that something could have been done in regard to the matter, for it was a great pity that those 10,000 tenants should be cut out of the operation of the Bill by the operation of circumstances over which they had no control. Could not something be done towards giving the middlemen a double bonus, because the bonus was about all they would get. He did not wish to put the Committee to the trouble of a division.

THE EARL OF MORLEY: I am very much obliged to the noble Duke for his answer, which is what I anticipated. My sole object in asking the Question was to warn promoters that it was impossible for Parliament to consider any new schemes for new tubes or large railway extensions through London, until the Commissioners

Amendment, by leave of the House. have reported. I do not, of course, refer to

withdrawn.

Clause 38, as amended, agreed to.

House resumed; and to be again in Committee to-morrow: The Committee to have precedence of the other Notices and Orders of the Day.

CCUNTY COURTS JURISDICTION
EXTENSION BILL.

Amendments reported (according to order), and Bill to be read 3a To-morrow.

POOR LAW (DISSOLUTION OF SCHOOL
DISTRICTS AND ADJUSTMENTS) BILL.

House in Committee (according to order); Bill reported without Amendment; Standing Committee negatived; and Bill to be read 3a To-morrow.

MARINE STORE DEALERS (IRELAND)
BILL.

Amendments reported (according to order); a further Amendment made, and Bill to be read 3a To-morrow.

LONDON TRAFFIC.

THE EARL OF MORLEY: I beg to ask His Majesty's Government whether the

measures dealing with existing lines,
alterations of capital, purchases of small
portions of land or matters of that kind.
I was anxious to give this notice as
publicly as I could, and I am much
obliged to the noble Duke for supporting
me in doing so in order that the pro-

moters may
be saved the considerable
trouble and large expense of introducing
Bills and giving notices.

The House adjourned at half-past Twelve o'clock a.in. till to morrow, half-past Ten o'clock

a.m.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Thursday, 6th August, 1903.

The House met at Two of the Clock.

UNOPPOSED PRIVATE BILL
BUSINESS.

Gateshead Corporation Bill; Stroud and District Tramways Bill. Lords Amendments considered, and agreed to.

LICENSING LAW (COMPENSATION FOR (Mr. Gerald Balfour.)
NON-RENEWAL) BILL.

Petition from Lower Wortley against; to lie upon the Table.

RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC.

TRADE (BRITISH COLONIES WITH
FOREIGN COUNTRIES).

Return ordered, "showing for 1901
the imports from foreign countries into
British India, the self-governing colonies,
and the following Crown colonies:
Straits Settlements, Ceylon, Mauritius,
Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad, dis-
tinguishing (a) imports of food and
drink, raw materials, and manufactured
articles; and (b) principal articles."-
(Mr. Gerald Balfour.)

--

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
CIRCULATED WITH THE VOTES.

Landing Place at White Port, Loughross
Point, Donegal.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.):
To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord

Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the fact that on the 22nd ultimo a salmon boat, manned by a crew of six men, could not land at White Port, Loughross Point, County Donegal, owing to the absence of a landing-place or pier, but was driven, with danger to the lives of the crew, by the force of the tide to Innishaynop, an island three miles from the coast; and, if so, whether the work of the completion of a boat-slip or pier at White Port, which has been suspended by the Congested Districts Board, will, having regard to the neces sity of the case, be immediately resumed.

(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The of them are in the library. Lastly, it is work in progress at White Port was laid down that, in working the concessuspended merely to test its character. sion, European supervision is to be When this has been sufficiently ascer- provided. tained the work will be resumed.

Cost of Museums and Galleries in London. MR. ALFRED DAVIES (Carmarthen Boroughs): To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the total cost for the last financial year of the museums and galleries, respectively, situated in London.

Scottish Board of Manufactures Committee-Publication of Report.

LORD BALCARRES (Lancashire, Chorley): To ask the Secretary to the Treasury when the Report of the Committee, which has inquired into the constitution and management of the Scottish Board of Manufactures, is likely to be issued.

(Answered by Mr. Ritchie.) The gross sums voted in Class IV. of the Civil (Answered by Mr. A. Graham Murray.) Service Estimates, 1902-3, for these The Report of the Committee is now services were (exclusive of items merged complete, and will be in the hands of in more general sub-heads and not the Secretary for Scotland in the separable)-Victoria and Albert Museum course of the next day or two. I and Bethnal Green Museum, £66,994; cannot at present come under any Geological Museum, £3,558; British obligation as to the publication of the Museum, £128,729; Natural History Report, but that matter will be conMuseum, £49,051; National Gallery, sidered by the Secretary for Scotland £18,600 National Portrait Gallery, when it is in his hands. £5,541; Wallace Collection, £9,066.

Concession for Collection of Rubber in

Uganda.

SIR JOHN GORST (Cambridge University): To ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in granting a concession in Uganda to an Italian firm for the collection of rubber (Africa, No. 9, 1903, page 5), precautions have been taken to prevent the industry from degenerating, as has been the case elsewhere, into a system of slavery; whether he will state the conditions (if any) for the protection of native labourers inserted in such concessions; whether the concession granted to the Italian company, and the form of such concessions to be granted in future, can be published as a Parliamentary Paper.

Clerks in Irish Agricultural Department
-Equal Treatment.

MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W.): To ask the Secretary to the Treasury, whether he is aware that there are two sets of clerks in the Agricultural Department, Dublin, who are identical as regards length of service, nature of duties, and record of conduct; that one set receive £120 a year, whilst the others, after service of eight to eleven years, receive considerably less than £100 per annum; and, if so, whether he will make inquiries into this matter, with a view to have both sets of clerks placed on the same footing.

(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) I would refer the hon. Member to my replies to the similar Questions addressed to me by the hon. and learned Member for North and 7th July.† Louth on the 28th May, 17th June,

instatement of Clerk Guilty of Stabbing.
Belfast Telegraph Department--Re
MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.): To ask the
Postmaster-General whether he

(Answered by Lord Cranborne.) The text of the concession has not yet reached the Foreign Office. The concession is, of course, held subject to the Native Labour Regulations (Queen's Regulations. No. 8, of 1900, Native Labour), the provisions of which are very detailed; and to the Rubber Rules under the Forestry Ordinance, 1903. All these rules and regulations are + See (4) Debates, exiii., 110 and 1162. exxiv. protect by a penal clause. Copies 1524.

can

explain under what circumstance a clerk

(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) of the overtime in the Glasgow office are growth of work and occasional pressure of work which cannot be foreseen. The revision now under consideration is designed to provide for the overtime due to growth of work, but there will still MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick): To

(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) MR. FIELD: To ask the President of A number of qualified learners are the Board of Trade whether his attention being employed as temporary sorting clerks and telegraphists with a view to reducing the amount of overtime. They are paid at the minimum of the scale for established appointments of the same kind.