§ "Whereas under the Irish Church Act, 1869, the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870, and the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1872, advances to tenants were authorised for such proportions of the money required for the purchase of their holdings, and upon such conditions and terms as therein specified, and whereas, notwithstanding that such terms and conditions were altered and modified by the Irish Laud Act, 1887, in certain cases, and to the extent therein mentioned, there still remains an inequality which presses severely and injuriously on the purchasers under those earlier Acts as compared with the advantages provided under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1885, and the Irish Land Act, 1887, and the Purchase of Land Act, 1891, be it therefore enacted as follows:—
§ On the application of the tenant of any holding purchased under the Irish Church Act, 1869, the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870, or the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1872, and whether the annuities or instalments payable out of such holding have been altered under the provision of the Irish Land Act, 1887, or the Purchase of Land Act, 1801, or otherwise, and if, upon due investigation, they find that any portion of the purchase money other than the advance made by this State was borrowed by the tenant and still remains due, the Irish Land Commissioners shall make such further advance as may be required to pay off such debt, and shall pay it off: Provided that upon due inquiry, the Land Commission is satisfied that such holding is sufficient security for such advance when added to the portion still unpaid of the original State loan or advance.
§ The Land Commission shall ascertain the present capital value of the annuities or instalments still remaining unpaid of the original advance, and shall add such capital sum to the amount advanced under this section, and repayment of the total sum so found shall be provided for by an annuity from the first day of May or the first day of November next preceding the date of the application under this section of such amount as shall be found by the Land Commissioners to be required to repay it by half-yearly instalments calculated under section seventeen of this Act."
876§ * MR. SPEAKERThe next clause which stands upon the Paper, in the name of the hon. Baronet the Member for South Londonderry, as I understand it, is not in order, because it proposes to throw an additional burden upon the State. The clause appears to me to propose that where a tenant has, under previous Acts borrowed any portion of the purchase money from persons other than the State, the Land Commissioners shall make such further advance as may be required to pay off such debt. That would be to throw an increased burden upon the State, and such a proposal is out of order upon the Report stage of the Bill.
§ SIR THOMAS LEAsaid that his only object was to put tenants who had purchased their holdings under the Land Purchase Acts in the same position as other tenants would occupy under this Bill.
§ * MR. SPEAKERThat is exactly what I understood the meaning of the clause to be, and as it proposed to throw an increased burden upon the State, it is out of order.
§ Clause 1,—