§ MR. TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Land Commission have issued for the information of landlords and tenants making agreements for fair rents for the second statutory term instructions as to their liabilities for rates wider the new rating system; and whether he can state if an agreement is binding on a landlord to allow his tenants half county cess under the second statutory term made since the 6th April last.
§ *MR. G. W. BALFOURThe reply to the first paragraph is in the negative. Presumably the parties to an agreement would refer to the provisions of the Local Government Act and to the certificate as to poor rate and county cess published in the Dublin Gazette of 11th April, before executing the agreement. The precise meaning of the second paragraph is not quite clear to me, but I would refer the hon. Member to Section 52, Sub-section 2, of the Local Government Act of last year, which enacts that the occupier of a hereditament shall not he entitled to deduct from his rent any part of the poor rate, and any contract to the contrary respecting such deduction shall be void.