§ MR. JOHN CAMPBELL (Armagh, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that a few years ago a rule was adopted by the Land Commission whereby applications for the fixing of fair rents were postponed in cases in which negotiations for sale and purchase were pending at the same time; whether he is aware that in some of the cases referred to two years and upwards have elapsed since the applications for fixing fair rents were postponed under the rule mentioned; and whether, seeing that under the present procedure, in the case of sale and purchase transactions, under Section 40 of the Act of 1896, some years must elapse, he proposes to adopt some means whereby the tenants concerned will not be deprived during the intervening period of the benefits of the rent-fixing clause of the Irish Land Acts.
§ MR. ATKINSONNo such rule has been made by the Land Commission. In cases, however, where applications to fix fair rents have been lodged, and in which agreements for purchase, signed by land lord and tenants, are subsequently received, it is the practice of the Commissioners to strike out the former, with liberty to the parties to apply to have the applications reinstated, in the event of the purchase proceedings falling through. Where the purchase proceedings arise in respect of estates administered by the Land Judge's Court, the fair rent applications are only stayed by order of that Court. Should the sale go off in all such cases, and the 1137 rent be fixed, the rent so fixed will, under the Statute, commence to run from the gale day next succeeding the date of the application, due credit being given for anything paid in excess. The tenant, therefore, is fully protected, and no change is necessary, such as suggested at the conclusion of the Question.