§ MR. J. P. FARRELL (Cavan, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) can he state to the House the nature of the instructions issued to Revising Officers of Valuation in Ireland; (2) whether they are empowered to value or revalue land; (3) whether, seeing that the last valuation of Ireland was made in 1854, when the value of agricultural products was much higher than it is to-day, the Government intend to have a valuation of the land of the Three Kingdoms, as was promised last Session; (4) and, if so, when?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe Revising Officers of the Valuation Department are instructed to revise the value of all rate-able tenements and hereditaments which have been legally brought under the notice of the Department by the local rating authorities, or the ratepayers, in the manner prescribed by and in accordance with the provisions of the several Valuation Acts. The Acts provide that, whilst the value of all other rateable property may be altered, the total value of land in any townland cannot be changed. An adjustment, therefore, where the boundaries of holdings are altered, is all that is possible in land revision cases. I am not aware of any promise made by- me as referred to in the last paragraph, but the question of a general revaluation of land in Ireland is, in my judgment, well worthy of consideration.