or nearly 18 per cent.  The result then between the several parties is, the landlord receives L19,200; the tenantry pay L240 a year less than they have hitherto paid, and at the end of forty-nine years are exempt altogether from payment; the gain of Irish State Authority is L172 16_s._ a year.  Another mode of putting the case shortly is as follows:  The English Exchequer lends the money to the Irish State Authority at 3-1/8 per cent. and an annuity of 4 per cent. paid during forty-nine years will, as has been stated above, repay both principal and interest for every L100 lent at 3-1/8 per cent.  On the sale of an estate under the Bill, the landlord receives twenty years’ purchase; the tenant pays L4 per cent. on twenty years’ purchase of the gross rental; the Irish State Authority receives L4 per cent. on the gross rental; the English Exchequer receives 4 per cent. on the net rental only.  The repayment of the interest due by the Irish Authority to the English Exchequer is in no wise dependent on the punctual payment of their annuities by the Irish tenants, nor does the English Government in any way figure as the landlord or creditor of the Irish tenants.  The annuities payable by the tenants are due to the Irish Government, and collected by them, while the interest due to the English Government is a charge on the whole of the Irish Government funds; and further, these funds themselves are paid into the hands of the Imperial officer, whose duty it is to liquidate the debt due to his master, the Imperial Exchequer, before a sixpence can be touched by the Irish Government.  It is not, then, any exaggeration to say that the Land Purchase Bill of 1886 provides for the settlement of the Irish Land question without any appreciable risk to the English Exchequer, and with the advantage of securing a fair price for the landlord, a diminution of annual payments to the tenant with the ultimate acquisition of the fee simple, also a gain of no inconsiderable sum to the Irish Exchequer.  In order to obviate the difficulties attending the investigation of title and transfer of the property, the Bill provides, as stated above, that on the completion of the agreement for the sale between the landlord and the Commission, the holding shall vest at once in the tenants:  it then proceeds to declare that the claims of all persons interested in the land shall attach to the purchase-money in the same manner as though it were land.  The duty of ascertaining these claims and distributing the purchase-money is vested in the Land Commission, who undertake the task in exchange for the 1 per cent. which they have, as above stated, deducted from the purchase-money as the cost of conducting the complete transfer of the estate from the landlord to the tenants.  The difficulty of the process of dealing with the purchase-money depends, of course, on the intricacy of the title.  If the vendor is the sole unencumbered owner, he is put in immediate possession of the stock constituting the price of