§ MR. GILHOOLYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Hoard of Public Works have reduced the amounts of loans advanced to Irish tenant farmers for the improvement of their holdings from five times the annual Poor Law valuation of their farms to three times the annual valuation; and, if so, what reason can be assigned for the alteration?
§ * SIR J. T. HIBBERTThe amount permitted to be lent under Section 31 of the Land Law Act of 1881 has been in certain cases, and in order to avoid loss to the Exchequer, reduced from five to three times the valuation or judicial 1546 rent of the holding to he improved. The reduction does not apply in the following cases:—(1) Where the landlord of the applicant joins in the deed of charge for the purpose of mortgaging the reversion; (2) where the applicant is a tenant purchaser; (3) where the applicant is owner, but applies under the Land Law Act because he does not qualify for a loan under the Land Improvement Act; and (4) where the applicant is prepared to give adequate collateral security for the loan. The alteration, it is believed, will work well in the interest of the tenants themselves.