v. George
Geraty, parish priest, who is asked--"30. Has there been any
considerable consolidation of farms in your neighbourhood?--No; the
population is as dense as it was formerly: there may be a few isolated
cases."

Mr G. H. Peyton.--"22. Has there been any consolidation of farms in that
neighbourhood?--No, I have not known of any for some years past."

Major Jones.--"44. Has the consolidation of farms taken place to any
extent in the district?--No; no man is ever ejected if he pays his rent.
It does not signify who he is, or what he is."

Touching the tenant-right, which is admitted to exist by Mr Geraty, the
priest, Mr Burchall Lindsay is asked--"49. Is the sale of the good-will
of farms prevalent in the district, and to whom is the purchase-money
paid?--It is; and the money is paid to the tenant."

Mr Little, in answer to the same question, says, "Yes." He is further
asked--"42. How far is it recognised by the landlords?--The landlord
merely consents to the party coming in: he does not interfere with the
tenant disposing of his interest, if he gets a decent man and an honest
man for a tenant, whose character is recommended. He has no objection to
the tenant disposing of his farm to the best advantage."

If we test the amount of rent by making the usual addition of 25 per
cent to the government valuation, it will appear that in this county the
tenantry pay for good land not more than _seven_ shillings the acre; and
this certainly is not a price which should produce either poverty or
outrage. But it may be said, perhaps, the landlords are non-resident and
negligent: the people have no example set them; they have no knowledge
of a proper system of cultivation; and hence the poverty which generates
crime. It so happens, however, that there are not better or more
painstaking landlords in England than are to be found in this very
district, and in the adjoining and equally disturbed county of Cavan.
The Lord Primate has a large estate in Leitrim, and in the most
disorganized part, on which he has had a Scotch agriculturist for the
last sixteen years, merely for the purpose of instructing his tenantry.
His grace is a model in every position of life; but as a landlord he is
most conspicuous. Mr Latouche has an immense tract of land. He, too, has
a Scotch steward for the same purpose; and his brother, who is his agent
and resides on the estate, was regularly qualified by an agricultural
education. The Earl of Leitrim h