HC Deb 29 April 1909 vol 4 c630W
Mr. FFRENCH

asked the Attorney-General for Ireland whether he is aware of the difficulty that has arisen in regard to the registration of labourers' cottage plots already included in the registration of purchased-out holdings; whether he is aware that in the Wexford Union a sum of £400 is the estimated cost of applying to such plots the provisions of the Local Begistration of Title Amendment (Ireland) Act of 1908; whether the ratepayers, including guardians and district councillors, after complying with all the requirements of the Labourers Acts, are now to be saddled with a new and unexpected expenditure; and whether, as there is some doubt and uncertainty as to the proper course to be taken, he will issue instructions to the district councils setting forth the law on the subject?

Mr. CHERRY

The Local Government Board inform me that on 30th January last they addressed to the clerk of each rural district council in Ireland an instructional circular fully explaining the importance of complying with the requirements of the Begistration of Title Act, 1891, in the case of plots of land acquired under the Labourers Acts on holdings dealt with under the Land Purchase Acts. The Board do not know what will be the total cost of carrying into effect the provisions of the Act of last year in the Wexford rural district, but whatever the cost may be, it will have been occasioned by the neglect to comply with the requirements of the law at the proper time, before the cottages were built. I have no power to relieve the ratepayers from the costs occasioned by the omission.