HL Deb 02 August 1900 vol 87 cc404-5
VISCOUNT TEMPLETOWN

My Lords, I beg to ask Her Majesty's Government under what statute or other authority is it obligatory to publish the average price of corn in the Dublin Gazette; what department or what official is responsible for seeing that such average price is published; does the Dublin Gazette now publish the average price of corn as required by statute; if so, on what date was the publication resumed subsequent to 1887 (when the publication was admittedly discontinued); and will the payers and receivers of Church perpetuity rents become again I entitled to have those rents varied as soon as the average price of corn has been published in the Dublin Gazette for seven years preceding the dates at which the parties would in the ordinary course be entitled to have their perpetuity rents varied.

THE EARL OF DENBIGH

Statistics concerning corn, including average prices, were formerly published in the Dublin Gazette under the provisions of several Irish statutes relating to corn bounties, and were subsequently adopted by and made applicable to the Acts dealing with tithe rent-charge and Church perpetuity grants. The Corn Bounty statutes were repealed by the Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act, 1879. In 1887 the average prices of corn ceased to lie published or advertised in the Dublin Gazette. The cause of this cessation is unknown, as no record on the subject can be traced. It is doubtful whether since the repeal of the Corn Bounty Acts a responsibility is thrown by law on any department or official for seeing that such average prices are published. The Irish Government have, with Treasury sanction, arranged with the secretary of the Dublin Corn Exchange for the resumption of the publication weekly in the Dublin Gazette of these average prices. The first publication under this arrangement was made on 17th January, 1899. As regards the fourth question, the answer will depend upon whether the average prices now published by the Dublin Gazette are held by the courts to be the average prices of corn as required by statute.