§ MR. M'CARTAN (Down, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he is aware of the new Rule of the Land Commission, whereby every tenant applying to have a fair rent fixed, and the Poor Law valuation of whose farm is upwards of £5, is obliged to lodge with the Sub-Commission an ordnance map of his farm with the farm coloured thereon; whether directions have been given to the Sub-Commissioners to dismiss every fair rent application made by such a tenant where the map has not been lodged prior to the hearing; whether, for the last seven years, such an obligation was only imposed where the valuation exceeded £30; whether he knows of the general dissatisfaction which the extension of this rule has caused among the small farmers who are unable to bear this additional expense in making their applications; and, if he will suggest to the Land Commission the desirability of withdrawing this rule, which presses so severely on poor farmers?
THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOB IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN)(who replied) said (Dublin University)The Land Commissioners report that their present Rule requires the ordnance map showing the boundaries of the holding to be lodged in every case of an originating notice where the valuation is £5 or upwards, and that the former limit was £30. They state, however, 125 that it is not the fact that, in the absence of a map, the case is over dismissed. It is only adjourned. The Commissioners are aware that there is some dissatisfaction with the Rule, as it at present exists, and they are considering how its provisions can be in some degree modified.
§ In reply to a further question by Mr. M'CARTAN,
§ MR. MADDENsaid, he was not aware of the details in regard to the cost to which tenants were put in procuring these maps.