§ MR. LONSDALE (Armagh, Mid.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Church perpetuity rents have been reduced from 1st November last, for fifteen years, at the end of which period the tenants will be entitled to further reduction; and whether, seeing that, under the Irish Church Act, 1869, the redemption price of these rents is fixed at twenty-five years purchase, the Land Commission will be authorised, in fixing the redemption price of these rents, for the purpose of sales to the under-tenants, to take into consideration the further reduction to which the rent would be liable at the expiration of fifteen years if not redeemed in the meantime.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The perpetuity rents payable to the Irish Land Commission have been reduced from the 1st November last in pursuance of the provisions of the 90th Section of The Irish Land Act, 1903. There is no fixed price for the redemption of perpetuity rents. Section 34 (2) of the Irish Church Act, 1869, merely prescribed that "perpetuity rents shall be offered to the owner of the land out of which they issue at a capital sum equal to twenty-five times the annual amount of such rents." In fixing the redemption price of perpetuity rents each case is dealt with on its own merits according as the question of redemption arises.