Operations of the Irish Land Purchase Act

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 13, 2 April 1908, Page 30

Operations of the Irish Land Purchase Act

Spe&kirig in the Rouge of Commons on the debate on the "Ad'dress-in-Reply the Chuef Secretary .for Ireland gi\e the follow. n^. ] artacular^ as to the operations of ih.\La:.'d Purchase Act :— Up to date 19£ millions of golden sovereigns had been paid to the landlords jof Ireland for , the -purchase of their land. These 19| millions dnd.de sales to some 35,000 tenants, direct from I'he landlords themselves, and "which land has become vested in the tin&iits under Ul3 provisions of the Act and through the agency of the Estates Commissioners. But in addition to thaji, the Estates Commissioners hive ivp io the 18th 1 of January, sold and actually \ested in tuna-ivls untenantod larad to the value of some £825^000, repre en ing some 75,000 acres, while the Congested Districts Eoard have been able to put tonants on lanid costing some £410,000. That represents 19-J millions paid .to the landlords. Fo>r land actually in occupation of the tern nts, lend to .tb.3 \alue of 34-|- millions more toas beeri agreed to be bought, and the delay that takes plada in completing the transactions is a cause of great cissatisf action to the landlords end. tenants. Negotiations pending invol c £i 1,300,000, 300,000 worth of land. ConseqsuenUy we have got completed transactions to the extent of 1H millicns, and incomplete transactions to extent of 39 milldons. We have up to the present moment

between 58 and 59 millicns either actually paid or agreed to be paid 1 , and which I hope will shortly be paid. 1 am not going to attempt to say what the value of Irish land i,s, or what the vakufmight be, but I think- it is generally agreed' thatt this 58 £■ millions, -represents more than one-third of the total land, and it is intend* ed and hoped the remainder will come under the provigsions of the Acffc. Let me remind the House that if a landlord domes to a bargain wiith his tenant, and if it is within the prescribed limits, the State has nothing to say. The landlord is, of course, paid in hard cash, and 1 am gl:d to say that Irish land stock 'has now risen from 81' to something like 89.~-But' in every .hundred pounds the State has to pay the landlord it has to jssue stock in excess £12 4s. "That excess stock, calculated at £1,000,000, repres 1 nts £124,000. The excess on £100,000,000 {w-ouldi fee £12,.i00,000. The annual charge! for this for a peridd of 6H years is £403,000. Consequently tat- ing- the £100,000,000, &' charge will be levied of £335,000, which, under the /Act of parliament, is. to be 4?brne by the Irish ratepayer, ©q|Ual to a calculated rate of fivepence, levied equally o'er the whole rateable value o? Ireland. I think the House will agree that that is a perfectly -impossible state of affairs.