§ MR. HAZLETON (Galway, N)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Galway County Council at their last quarterly meeting deferred payment of the costs of valuation as a protest against the manner in which estates in the county of Galway divided under the Land Act of 1903 have been left unrevised for a long period, so that the persons liable for the poor rates cannot be ascertained; whether he will instruct the Estates Commissioners when they have striped an estate to lodge with the Commissioner of Valuation full details, with maps, etc., of such estate; and whether ho will instruct the Commissioner of Valuation on receipt of such information from the Estates Commissioners forthwith to send down an official from the Valuation Office to revise the valuation.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Galway County Council have deferred payment of their contribution towards the cost of the
†See(4)debates,clxxiii,712.1246 annual revision of the valuation lists upon the ground that the Commissioner of Valuation has declined to revise valuations from time to time outside the annual revision provided for by the statute. Under the existing law the Commissioner of Valuation has power to issue revised valuation lists once a year only, namely, on or before 1st March. The Estates Commissioners have already made arrangements with the Commissioner of Valuation which enable him to ascertain the names of new proprietors and full particulars of the lands sold to them. I have no power to give the instructions suggested in the latter part of the Question. A revision of the valuation at any other time than that prescribed by law would not be possible.