§ MR. KENYON (Denbigh, &c.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the Commissioners of Woods and Forests are now exacting a Crown rent from Mr. Wynne, of Peniarth, County Merioneth, without being able to prove the lands out of which the said rent issues, though it has been clearly pointed out to them that the said rent should issue out of an adjoining farm, the property of another owner; and, whether he is aware that cases of this kind are constantly occurring in different parts of Wales, and that great and general dissatisfaction is expressed at the administration of this Office in the Principality?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACKSON) (Leeds, N.)(who replied) said: The rent supposed to be referred to is an ancient manorial rent of 1s. 6d. per annum, charged on a property recently acquired by Mr. Wynne. The rent has heretofore been paid by the owner of the same promises certainly for 50 years, and the Commissioners of Woods are advised that Mr. Wynne is now liable for it; but further inquiries are being made. Cases of disputed liability for ancient fee farm and other 1118 Crown rents not unfrequently occur, and occasion much trouble and expense to the Commissioners of Woods. Two or three landowners, whose predecessors have paid Crown rents for generations, have within recent years repudiated their liability, and put the Commissioners to the expense of not only making local inquiries, but also Record searches in order to prove their title. I am not aware of any dissatisfaction with the administration of the Office.