§ MR. KETTLEI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the principle or standard employed by pension officers in Ireland in calculating, for the purpose of the Old-Age Pension Act, the income presumed to be derived from small agricultural holdings; and is this income taken as bearing any fixed proportion to the rent, the purchase annuity, or the Poor Law valuation of the holding.
§ MR. HOBHOUSE (for Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE)Pension officers exercise their discretion in dealing with this class of case. The assessment of the advantage derived from the occupation of a holding is a matter of considerable difficulty, and, while the amount of the rent in many cases provides a useful working measure of such advantage, it has not been possible to lay down an invariable rule on that basis. Each case has to be considered upon its merits with reference to the amount of rent paid and to other considerations affecting the value of the holding to the occupier as a source of income and means of subsistence.