known as the "Ashbourne Act", named after Baron Ashbourne, putting limited tenant land purchase in motion. The Act allowed a tenant to borrow the full amount of the purchase price, to be repaid at 4% over 49 years. Five million pounds sterling were made available, and about 25,400 tenants purchased their holdings during the period up to 1888, many in Ulster. In all were purchased, which made an average holding of . The purchase price was equal to 17½ years rental. The Act was amended by the 1888 Land Purchase Act, providing a further five million to the amount granted for purchase under the Ashbourne Act. Land Law (Ireland) Act 1887 (Balfour) This was Arthur Balfour's major Land Act, which came at the end of the 'Plan of Campaign' agitation. It provided £33,000,000 sterling for land purchase, but contained many complicated legal clauses, so that it was not put fully into effect until amended five years later. At this point only £13,500,000 had been employed. It substituted peasant proprietorship for dual ownership as the principle of land tenure. At the same time Balfour created the Congested Districts Board to deal with distress in the backward areas of the west of Ireland. The Act was amended by the 1896 Land Act, increasing the amount available for purchase and removing the clauses which had made the Act unattractive. The Land Courts were empowered to sell 1,500 bankrupt estates to tenants. A total of 47,000 holdings were bought out between 1891 and 1896. Local Government was introduced two years later under the revolutionary Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, which in turn contributed to the success of the United Irish League (UIL) in the 1900 general election, laying the foundation for a lasting solution in the land question. Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 (Wyndham Land Act) Under pressure from both government, UIL and IPP, the Chief Secretary for Ireland – George Wyndham gave his backing to a Land Conference in December 1902, comprising four moderate landlord representatives led by Lord Dunraven and four tenant representatives led by William O'Brien, the others John Redmond, T. W. Russell (who spoke for Ulster tenant-farmers) and T. C. Harrington. They worked out a new scheme for tenant land purchase, sale was to be made not compulsory, but attractive to both parties, based on the government paying the difference between the price offered by tenants and that demanded by