HC Deb 24 February 1899 vol 67 cc450-1
MR. DALY (Monaghan, S.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Chief Land Commissioners who sat at Cavan during the present month to hear appeals increased the rents fixed by the Sub-Commissioners in several cases, and reduced the rents in none, and that the increase of rent in some cases was only 6s; whether this increase carried costs against the tenants; whether he is aware that Chief Commissioner O'Brien dissented from the decisions; whether the Court Valuers were examined upon oath and in open court; and if the majority of the Chief Commissioners fixed the rent at figures submitted by the Court Valuers in every case?

THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO THS LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND (Mr. GERALD W. BALFOUR,) Leeds, Central

The total number of cases in which fair rent appeals were heard by the Land Commission sitting at Cavan during the present month was 30. Sixteen of the appeals so heard were from the Orders of the Civil Bill Courts; in nine of these cases the fair rent as fixed by the County Court was increased; in one the fair rent was reduced; and in six cases the fair rent was affirmed. Of the 14 cases in which appeals were against Orders of the Sub-Commissions the fair rents as fixed by the Sub-Commission were increased in three cases, and in nine cases the fair rents were affirmed. In one case the Order dismissing the application to fix fair rent was affirmed by the Chief Commission, and the remaining case was one of "True Value." In two of the above cases the increase in the rent was 6s., which represented an increase of nearly 13 per cent, in each case. I have forwarded to the honourable Member a printed memorandum containing the general rules as to costs upon re-hearings in fair rent cases. Mr. Commissioner O'Brien dissented from the decision of his colleagues in eight cases. The Court, Valuers are not in any case examined in open Court, and the majority of the Commissioners consider they should not be so examined. In none of the cases referred to was the rent fixed at the actual estimate of the Court Valuers.