§ Mr. HAYDENasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that the rural district council of Roscommon has been in negotiation for a considerable time with the Land Commission and with Mrs. Bermingham for the acquisition of land in the possession of the latter for the purpose of labourers allotments, under the Labourers Act of 1906; that the land proposed to be taken consists of 23 out of 95½ acres, repurchased by Mrs. Bermingham as owner of an estate sold under the Land Act of 1903, upon which the Land Commission have made an advance of £2,854; that the Land Commission has now fixed £920 of this amount on the 23 acres, whilst the district council states that the proper acre-able proportion is £684, and that the land proposed to be taken is not superior but rather inferior to that which remains; that the council has asked the Land Commission for the basis upon which this amount was fixed and has been refused any information, further than a statement that the amount is a matter of actuarial calculation; whether he will state what official in the Land Commission is responsible for this particular calculation; and whether he will request the Commissioners to furnish the district council with the information which it seeks, and thus facilitate the operations of the council under the Act of 1906.
§ Mr. BIRRELL:I am informed by the Land Commission that in the particular case referred to in the question the 95½ acres referred to were purchased from and resold to Mrs. L. M. F. Bermingham under Section 3 of the Irish Land Act, 1903. These lands are situate on the outskirts of the town of Roscommon and are now subject to a Land Purchase Annuity of £92 15s. 2d. in repayment of an advance of £2,854 made to her for the repurchase of the lands under the Section. Twenty-three acres of this land are now being 910W acquired by the Roscommon Rural District Council by agreement under the Labourers Acts. As these twenty-three acres must be discharged from further liability to the payment of the Land Purchase annuity, the Commissioners as chargeants on the lands, on being applied to, intimated that for that purpose £29 18s. of the land purchase annuity should be charged on the twenty-three acres and be redeemed, the residue of the annuity, £62 17s. 2d. to continue to be payable by Mrs. Bermingham in respect of the remainder of the land in her occupation. The redemption value of the annuity (£29 18s.) is approximately £920, but depends on the value of Guaranteed 2¾ per cent, stock at the actual date of redemption, and is a matter for actuarial calculation when the redemption money comes to be paid. The case is one which has received most careful consideration with regard to security and other matters, and the Commissioners do not see any reason for departing from the decision already arrived at. The matter has been the subject of considerable correspondence, and the Commissioners have explained that a lower figure which the parties proposed to pay was not at any time assented to by the Commissioners, or settled with their concurrence.