SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL&c.) (Kirkcaldy,asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he can state the total rent of the farms, the purchase of which for £617,883 has been sanctioned under the provisions of the Land Purchase Act of 1885, and the average number of years purchase on the gross rent; and, if, in that respect, he can classify the large and small farms, showing the number of years purchase in each class?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY) (Newcastle-on-Tyne), in reply, said, that the total rental of the farms in Ireland, the purchase of which had been sanctioned under the provisions of the Land Purchase Act of 1885, was £35,714 14s. 9d. a-year. The amount sanctioned for the purchase was £617,833. Of this sum £164,700 was for the purchase of farms paying a rent of £100 a-year and upwards, representing a total rental of £9,860 4s. 11d.; and £453,133 was for the purchase of farms less than £100 a-year, representing a total rental of £25,853 19s. 10d. The average number of years' purchase of the gross rent in respect of each class of holdings was about 18. It should be explained that in some instances the advances sanctioned were less than the total purchase-moneys—in other words, that part of the purchase-money was in these cases found by the intending purchasers themselves.