"The following table will give the number of tenants who have purchased their holdings from their landlords with the assistance of the government under these various acts and under the Wyndham Act of 1903 from 1869 to the 31st of May, 1908: No. Amt. purchasers. advanced. Irish Church Act of 1869 6,057 £1,674,841 Act of 1870 877 514,536 Act of 1881 731 240,801 Act of 1885 26,367 9,992,536 Act of 1891 46,806 13,633,190 Act of 1903 46,576 17,657,279 ------- ----------- Total to date named 127,414 £43,713,183" The following table shows the number of tenant purchasers under the three land purchase acts of 1885-88, 1891-96, and 1903; the amount due from them annually, the number who were in arrears, and the amount of money unpaid on July 1, 1908: Number Install- Number Amount purchasers. ments. unpaid. unpaid. Act of 1885-88 25,382 £369,130 354 £2,900 1891-96 46,837 517,943 374 3,920 1903 44,773 561,858 305 3,312 ------ ---------- ----- ------- Total 116,992 £1,448,931 1,033 £10,132 This is an extraordinary statement. It shows that 116,992 Irish farmers have had farms purchased for them by the government, which they are under obligations to pay for by installments amounting annually to $7,240,000. Only 1,033, or less than 1 per cent, of them are in arrears in their payments, and the amount unpaid is only about $50,000. The statement shows that only 120 are in arrears for more than one installment. This is conclusive evidence that the peasant farmers of Ireland are carrying out in good faith the generous arrangement that has been made for them by the British Parliament. In addition to the actual tenants, the estates commissioners have provided farms for 2,647 persons who are not tenants, but are the sons of farmers or laborers upon the farms. These are called "landless" persons, and they are the ones who are making the trouble for the government in several of the counties by driving off the cattle and otherwise annoying the landlords and lessees of ranches that are being used for pasturage while they are without farms. To such persons 70,326 acres, an average of 35 acres each, have been allotted and paid for by the government.