§ Mr. JAMES O'CONNORpresented the following Petition from the Town Commissioners of the town of Arklow:—"That landlords can now as hitherto at the termination of a 'building lease' increase the 206 rent of the leaseholders or tenants or capriciously evict them without any compensation whatever and appropriate the buildings which they (the leaseholders) have erected with their own money, and enjoy the increased value of the buildings which has been secured by the expenditure of rates and taxes paid by the tenants or leaseholders, and to which the landlords have practically contributed nothing, and thus the great body of tenants or leaseholders in towns in Ireland who hold houses or premises which they have built at their own costs on ground leased from landlords on comparatively short leases (and at the highest rent which the landlords could possibly get for the land) have obtained no protection whatever under the Town Tenants (Ireland) Act, 1906." The petition was signed on behalf of the Commissioners by Mr. Michael Waldron, chairman, and Mr. Joseph W. Barrett, town clerk.