Savings Banks, as well as the
deposits in other Irish Banks, must be almost entirely derived from the
savings of the farmers. The landlords have been ruined by the Land Act;
labourers have no money to spare; and traders will not leave their money
idle at the small rate of interest credited.

If the farmers thought they had better means of using the money, they
would withdraw it, and they are without doubt as well aware as I am how
they can do the English Government in the future, for if there is any
roguery unknown to them, it is infinitesimal.

I cannot say that I think many landlords will leave Ireland in
consequence of the Wyndham Act. The few who will go are those who are
glad to be quit at any price, and to be free to pack out of the country.
But many a landlord will be far more comfortable on his own estate, when
he has rid himself of all his tenants.

One feature of this curious Act is that the Geraldines have got rid of
the last of their property, and escaped all the forfeitures.

As for the sporting rights, far too much fuss has been made over them.
Except where there are plantations or good fishing, they are of very
little value one way or the other. The Act will not affect the hunting.
Small Irish farmers like to see the hunt almost as much as the hunting
set themselves like to participate in it.

Of course, too, the Act ought to be popular in Ireland, because it is
taking so much money out of England.

A point I wish to emphasise is one about which there has been a great
deal of misconception.

A considerable amount of capital has been made out of the depreciation
of agricultural produce in Ireland as compared with England. But Ireland
is a stock-producing country and not an agricultural country in the
strict sense, for the cultivation of wheat in Ireland has long since
ceased to exist. The true relation may be seen in the fact that in
England the difficulty of getting store-cattle was a loss to farmers,
whereas it has been a decided gain to farmers in Ireland--though they
are not best pleased when you impress the fact on them.

Mr. Finlay Dun in _Landlords and Tenants in Ireland in 1881_ cites some
examples which may be apt to-day when we are considering Mr. Wyndham's
Act.

He writes on page 64:--

'Kilcockan parish between Lismore and Youghal was in great part disposed
of in the Landed Estates Court thirty years ago. It was bought, some of
it by occupiers, some of it by shopkeepers and attorney