to contribute their penny or halfpenny a year to the taxation of the country.[1] An excessive pro-
- ↑ On the 1st of January, 1851, there were 7,846,000 proprietors in France, and 126,000,000 separate holdings (parcelles). It is stated by M. About that of these 7,846,000 proprietors, 3,000,000 were so indigent that they were unable to pay the Land Tax, although in 600,000 cases its amount did not come to a half-penny a year.
also are parcelled out among too many farmers, and that the cause is the same in both cases, a backward state of capital, skill, and agricultural enterprise."—Ibid. p. 363.
At the time Mr. Mill made this observation, he calculated that the average size of these small farms in France might be taken at 8½ acres, and a large proportion at 15 acres; at the present moment about 20 per cent. of the farms of Ireland are below 5 acres, and more than 50 per cent. only average 10 acres.
It is right I should append to the above quotations the modi-
given to the eldest son, and lie is charged with the support or provision for the rest."—Dig. Dev. Com. p. 381.
John Lynch, Esq., Solicitor.
"In the case of a man having a leasehold interest dying, how is that interest arranged; do disputes frequently arise among the surviving members of the family?—It is a source of continual dispute between them, unless he settles it by deed or will. If he dies intestate they are all mixed up together. One says, 'I wish to improve this;' another says for obstinacy, 'You shall not.' One will have a pig feeding here, and the consequence is, that all improvement is impossible."
"In your opinion, is the question of a succession to a leasehold interest a very fruitful source of litigation in this country?—No question at all about it.
"Is it the habit among the people in this country, holding small leasehold interests, to make charges upon them for the females of the family?—Yes. It is a most extraordinary thing. I have often said, 'One would suppose you had Lord Kenmare's estate to dispose of.' They have a miserable
