I beg to move the motion on the Order Paper:
"That the Dáil disapproves of the delay which is taking place in carrying out the provisions of the Land Act, 1923."
In moving this motion I do not intend to say anything that could be regarded as a personal attack on the Minister for Lands and Agriculture, on any Minister of the Executive Council, or on any individual employed by the Land Commission. But I think it is necessary that some disapproval should be shown by the Dáil of the slow methods adopted by the Land Commission in carrying out the provisions of the Land Act of 1923. It is a well-known fact that about 75 per cent. of the people of the country have no stake or interest in the country. You have, on one side, a certain class who are supposed to be the owners of the land of the country. This class numbers only a few. On the other side, you have thousands of people who are born into the world under the same circumstances as this particular class, but for whom there is no land available. We were told that the Land Act of 1923 was really introduced on behalf of the masses of the people and not on behalf of a certain class of the community. So far, we have had no proof of the work done by the Land Commission. We have had no proof as to the lands divided or handed over to the people under the Land Act of 1923. It was in order to get from the Minister for Lands and Agriculture some information as to when the sufferings of these uneconomic holders and landless people will be eased that I put this motion down.
I am quite sure that the Minister for Lands and Agriculture will do everything in his power, in his reply, to try and cloak any mistakes or delays made by the Land Commission. I feel sure that the reply will be that the Land Commission is doing everything in its power, and that a certain amount of land—some hundreds of thousands or millions of acres—have already been purchased by the Land Commission. I ask the Minister, here and now, if he can say how many congested areas have been relieved and how many estates have been divided? From one end of the Saorstát to the other, have 100 acres been divided under the Land Act of 1923 and handed over to the uneconomic holders? I say there have not. There are, of course, lands which were in the hands of the Congested Districts Board, prior to coming under control of the Land Commission. That land was purchased by the British Government and was handed over automatically in the names of the tenants chosen by that Government to the Saorstát Government for division by the Land Commission. These lands, I admit, have been divided in the different areas where they are situate, but I maintain that there have been no lands divided under the 1923 Act.
As I said on Wednesday week, the Land Act is 18 months old, and surely we should expect something from an Act that is 18 months old? We expected that some benefits would be achieved by that Act. I may be told by the Minister that he does not want to take drastic measures to compel the owners to hand over the land. But I would like to point out that every man born into this world is born against his will. Seeing he comes into the world, he must live upon the surface of the earth or not live at all. I do not see how any individual can claim ownership of the land. No set of individuals have the right to claim that they are owners of the land. To my mind, the land is the property of the State, and those individuals who claim to be owners of the land are only trustees for the State. In other words, the State has entrusted to them a portion of the lands of the country. I think it is nearly time that that trust should be taken from the hands of the few and should be transferred to the thousands of people willing and able to work these lands.
I am sure that neither the Minister for Lands and Agriculture nor the Ministers of the Executive will say that they are under a compliment to me for bringing forward this motion. It has been proved that in the recent elections only 45 per cent. of the people recorded their votes. Why was that? Simply because the remaining 55 per cent. have no interest in the country. They have nothing to live for. Small farmers and uneconomic holders and landless people have nothing to look forward to. You had the Land Act introduced for the purpose of election propaganda. It was introduced in 1922 in order to safeguard the position in 1923 by getting a big majority for the Government. During the time of the passing of that Act and afterwards, I said that the Minister for Lands and Agriculture was sincere and that the Land Act was introduced to meet the uneconomic conditions. Since that statement was made by me frequently in the country, I was compelled to put down this motion to draw some statement from the Minister regarding the working of the Act.
You have in this country thousands of people who have no earthly means of livelihood. It is a sorrowful sight for any Deputy to witness, week after week, hundreds of young men and women leaving this country to make a living in and build up a foreign State. If they had any means of living at home, they would be of benefit to this State. But they leave the country at the age of 18 or 20, and they give their brains and intelligence and strength to the building up of another country. Surely it is time that this should cease. Surely it is time that we did something to enable the people of this country to live at home? I quite understand that it may be a quest on of money and that the financial condition of the State may not be very healthy. But now that England has agreed to guarantee the Land Bonds to the value of £30,000,000, there should be no further difficulty in purchasing and dividing these lands. The Land Commission, if they take a serious view of this question, can easily improve the conditions of the people.
I know an old gentleman with 1,500 acres. He had only a man employed on that land. The Minister for Justice is laughing. I can only tell him that this same man was fined last year because he did not pay the licence duty on his dog. These are the men whom it is sought to retain in the country. These are the men whom we want to have control of the land. If the poor man has a cow which wanders along the road and, confronting a Civic Guard, blows her breath upon him, he is prosecuted and fined 5/-. It as a well-known fact that unless the position of the people is improved and that the lands are divided in the coming year, there is going to be such a land campaign as has never before been experienced in this country. I am not a bit ashamed to say here that that campaign has been already started. It is nearly time that we forgot the idea of class and looked to the real interests of the people.
It is nearly time that something would be done for the poor, struggling, uneconomic holders and small farmers. It is time their position was improved. The Minister for Lands and Agriculture is the only Minister at the moment who can, in a true sense, relieve the distress amongst the unemployed. In every town you have large numbers of agricultural labourers, small farmers and their sons, looking for work. Very large numbers of town workers, who were engaged in factories and shops, are now unemployed. There are too many labourers spare in every town.
If an employer posts a notice in his window indicating that a man is required, there will be at least fifty or sixty applicants, and some twenty or thirty of those should really be living comfortably on the land. When the lands of Ireland are divided, there will be, I submit, sufficient employment for agricultural workers, and it will not be necessary for them to seek employment in towns. As a consequence, it will relieve unemployment in towns; there will be more work for town workers. The agricultural labourer or the small farmer will have his position improved when he gets a portion of land.
I would like lo touch upon the matter of unpurchased tenants. When the Dáil was passing the Land Act of 1923 we were told unpurchased tenants were getting a half-year's arrears wiped out; we were told they would not be penalised as rewards arrears. What way have they been dealt with? In every case where an unpurchased tenant was not in a position to pay, proceedings were taken against him and he was decreed. Very large numbers of decrees have been carried out. That condition of things is very unfair. In 1920, when the real war-cry in the country was: "Do not recognise England; in fact, denounce her works and pomps," poor, struggling small farmers and uneconomic holders, being patriots in their own particular sense, thought the best thing they could do was to retain the land.