§ MR. FFRENCH (Wexford, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that, according to the Land Commission Returns, by the operation of the Land Acts in the sub-Commission and Land Commission Courts, £7,000,000 of rental in Ireland were reduced since the year 1881 to about £5,000,000; will he state how many holdings does this £5,000,000 represent; have agreements been lodged or sales carried out under the Land Purchase Acts for a rental of about £3,000,000 in Ireland, 713 and, if not, how much; how many holdings do the completed purchases of the lodged agreements represent; what is about the rental of the agricultural part of Ireland still to be bought; has he any official information showing that two-thirds of the farms of Ireland are held by tenants who do not pay more than £12 a year rent; and at how much do the Government estimate the amount of the land still to be bought out in order to complete the purchase under the Land Purchase Acts of the agricultural portion of the country.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) According to the last Annual Report of the Land Commission there had been, up to 31st. March last, 369,483 cases in which fair rents had been fixed for a first statutory term. The total former rental dealt with was £7,334,438, and the judicial rental was £5,815,931. In 131,637 of these cases a fair rent was subsequently fixed for a second statutory term, a first-term rental of £2,635,354 being reduced to £1,902,501. Thus the former rental of £7,334,438 is now represented by £5,353,078. Lands of a rental of approximately £5,000,000 had been sold or were pending for sale under the Land Purchase Acts on 31st October last, on which date advances had been made in respect of 143,641 holdings, and applications for advances were pending in respect of 173,343 holdings. I am not in a position to say what may be the rental of the agricultural part of Ireland still to be sold under the Land Purchase Acts, nor can I say whether two-thirds of the farms in Ireland are held by tenants who do not pay more than £12 a year rent, but the general Census Report for 1901 shows that 08 per cent. of the total number of agricultural holdings in Ireland do not exceed £15 in rateable value, and that 56 per cent. do not exceed £10 in rateable value. As regards the concluding portion of the Question I would refer the hon. Member to the Irish Land Purchase Acts Return recently laid upon the Table [Cd. 4412].