Page:The Irish land acts; a short sketch of their history and development.djvu/33

23 of Works, to be repaid in thirty-five years by an annuity, at the rate of five per cent, on the loan. Under this Act, 877 tenants purchased their holdings, and the amount of loans issued was £514,536. The total purchase money paid by the tenant purchasers for their holdings was £859,522, being at the rate of twenty-three one-third years' purchase of the rent.

The Act of 1881 (the "Gladstone Act").

Under this Act the Land Commission established under the Act was empowered to make advances to tenants for the purchase of their holdings, and was enabled to purchase estates for re-sale to the tenants. The limit of advance was extended from two-thirds of the purchase money (as in the Act of 1870) to three-quarters. The terms of repayment were the same—an annuity of five per cent, for thirty-five years.

Upwards of 731 tenants purchased under this Act, and the advances made amounted to £240,801. These included advances to 405 tenants on seven estates bought under the Act (section 26) by the Land Commission in the Landed Estates Court.

The Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1885 (the "Ashbourne Act").

Under this Act—commonly known as the "Ashbourne Act"—a sum of £5,000,000 was authorised to be advanced to the Land Commission to enable sales to be carried out between landlords and tenants by agreement, and to enable the Land Commission to purchase estates in the Landed Estates Court for the purpose of re-selling them to the tenants. The Land Commission was empowered to advance the entire purchase money subject to the retention of one-fifth by way of guarantee deposit for a period of about seventeen and a-half years, by which time an equivalent amount of the capital advanced had been repaid by means of the sinking fund. The deposit could be utilised if the tenant purchaser made default in his repayment, and if the landlord vendor was made a guarantor for the repayment of the annuity by the tenant purchaser. (Section 3).

The advances made under this Act were to be repaid by annual instalments (which included interest and sinking fund), extending over a period of forty-nine years.

In 1888, the £5,000,000 given under the Act of 1883 being practically exhausted, an additional sum of £5,000,000 was advanced to the Land Commission for the purposes of land purchase (51 and 52 Vic, c. 49). Under the "Ashbourne" Acts, 25,367 tenants (on 1,355 estates) became purchasers of their holdings, and the loans made amounted to £9,992,536. The rate of sale was seventeen years' purchase of the rent. (Report of the Irish Land Commission, 1902, p. 89). Under these Acts 101 estates were purchased in the Landed Estates Court for re-sale to tenants, and loans were issued to 2,039 tenants, amounting to £531,277.