THE EARL OF BELMORE,in rising to move for certain Returns in a specified form, of the total amounts sanctioned by the Board of Public Works in Ireland for loans under the Land Improvement Acts since January 1, 1871, said, that last August the Lord Lieutenant, in a speech at Belfast, had alluded to the amounts with a view of showing the advantage which he considered had accrued from the Land Act of 1870. Now, he (the Earl of Belmore) did not in the least dispute the fact that loans were sanctioned to the extent stated by his Excellency; but what he did doubt was, whether any very considerable sums had been borrowed by landowners with a view to their being laid out on lands not in their own occupation. For this reason he moved for these Returns.
§
Motion agreed to.
Return of the total amount of all loans under the Land Improvement Acts sanctioned by the Board of Public Works in Ireland since 1st January 1871; to be made in the following form:—[Tabular Form]—Ordered to be laid before the House.—(The Earl of Belmore.)