Page:The Irish land acts; a short sketch of their history and development.djvu/47

35 The next table gives (1) the Number of Holdings; (2) Area; (3) Poor Law Valuation; and (4) Purchase Money of (a) Lands Sold and Vested; (6) in respect of which proceedings for sale have been instituted and are pending; and (c) in respect of which proceedings for sale had not been instituted up to 31st March, 1916.

The estimate of the purchase money of the unsold land has been arrived at on the basis of the average number of years' purchase of the poor law valuation of the lands sold under the Acts 1903-1909, and on the assumption that all land in Ireland valued for poor law purposes as agricultural land not yet sold under the Land Purchase Acts will be sold under such Acts. The following facts should, however, be noted. There are certain lands which cannot, or probably will not, form the subject of proceedings for sale under the existing Land Purchase Acts—as, for instance, large holdings and demesne lands the purchase money of which would exceed the statutory limits of advances under those Acts; certain lands in the neighbourhood of cities and towns; market gardens; labourers' plots; and parcels of land already held in fee-simple by the occupiers. Again, the advances made under the 1903 Act were repayable by Annuities at the rate of 3¼ per cent., but under the Act of 1909 all advances in respect of future sales will be repayable by annuities at the rate of 3½ per cent., and experience has shown that the increase in the annuity rate has resulted in a decrease in the purchase money. Having regard to these considerations, it is highly probable that the estimated purchase