§ MR. GIBSONasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the Irish Land Commissioners have recently made a rule which provides that agreements for fixing fair rents shall be under the hands of the landlord and tenant; whether they have held that, in the case of the landlords being Corporations, the agreement should be under the seal of the Companies; and, whether, having regard to the inconvenience, expense, and delay that may thus be caused in the case of Companies or Corporations resident in England, it is likely that any modification will be introduced in the rule?
§ MR. TREVELYANThe Land Commissioners have decided that in order to comply with the provisions of Section 8, Sub-section 6, of the Land Law Act, it is necessary that agreements for fair 1539 rents entered into under that sub-section must be signed by the landlord himself. In the case of the landlords being Corporations, an agreement must bear the seal of the Corporation. The Commissioners do not consider they have any power to dispense with this requirement. The necessity for it arises, not out of any rule made by them, but out of the terms of the Statute. The Commissioners do not object, where it would be impracticable or highly inconvenient to obtain the signature of the landlord to every agreement, to allow agreements to be scheduled, and to accept as sufficient the landlord's signature to the schedule, and there is no objection to the same course being followed by a Corporation affixing its seal.