ABSTRACT
The Rev. chairman, who was very warmly received, said, after some preliminary observations – Famine is already, I am aware, at the doors of many of you in this parish, grimly staring you in the face, and to complete this woeful business of your miseries your landlords are mercilessly worrying you for the usual pound of flesh (hear, hear). Poor Lazarites, you have appeared at their gates and appealed to their sympathies to share with you in this your present distress, and what I understand you most received was great insults and abuse (hear, hear). And what, may I ask, has been the cause of these ever-recurring periods of destitution and famine? I tell you plainly here to-day that it is owning to that vicious and iniquitous system of land tenure under which you live (hear, hear). There will neither be prosperity nor happiness in store for our common country until that system is remodeled.
