On July 8, 1880, I gave evidence before the Royal Commission on Agriculture, being mainly examined by the president, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, others on the board being Lord Carlingford, Mr. Stansfeld, afterwards Lord, Mr. Joseph Cowen, and Mr. Mitchell Henry. Here are some of my statements on a then experience of thirty-one years:-- 'The expenditure by landlords on farm buildings is as great in Ireland as in Scotland.' 'In the exceptional state of things I strongly disapprove of tenant-right in Ireland, which, as Lord Palmerston said, is landlord wrong.' 'Small holdings are a very bad thing in Ireland where they are not mixed with large holdings.' 'The distress in Kerry is considerable, but has been considerably exaggerated.' 'Every tenant in Ireland has six months to redeem after he is evicted.' 'I have never known a man leave a farm unless compelled.' 'I contradict the statement that tenants make improvements which tend to increase the letting value of the land.' 'You pay four times as much for spade tillage as for ploughing by horse.' 'Bad farming in Ireland is due to want of education and to the enhanced subdivision of the land. When the farmer gets higher up the social scale he will have more sense than to make beggars of his children by subdivision.' 'Distress has not produced the discontent.' 'Almost more land has been sold in Kerry than in any county in Ireland.' Three months later, in my evidence before the Irish Land Act Commission, in answer to the Chairman, I stated that in my opinion it was simply impossible to arbitrate on rent. I had two tenants of my own whose yearly rent was L20 and whose valuation was L20. One of them in 1880 sold L135 worth of pigs and butter, and the other man's children were assisted in charity from my house, though both had equal means of success. I also pointed out that there were then 300,000 occupiers of land in Ireland, whose holdings were under L8 Poor Law valuation, and these occupiers when their potatoes failed had nothing but relief works, starvation, or emigration. To give them their whole rent would not meet the difficulty. I submitted a scheme of purchase, in which Baron Dowse was greatly interested, and I suggested that all holdings under L4 a year should be ejected at Petty Sessions, because it was a great hardship for the tenant of such a holding to have L2, 10s. costs put upon him. I ended with:-- 'There is a case in this county in connection with which there is likely to be very considerable disturbance. A man had a farm put up for sale and a Nationalist bought it at a very low figure, on the understanding that he was to keep it for the man's family; but as soon as he got it he turned Conservative and kept it.' BARON DOWSE--'Turned what?' MYSELF--'Conservative.' BARON DOWSE--'Rogue, I would say. You would not say that Conservatives are rogues?'