Page:The Irish land acts; a short sketch of their history and development.djvu/58

44 as trustees under section 4 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, parcels of untenanted land for the purposes of the Labourers Acts; and it includes an agricultural labourer who is a tenant to a district council of a cottage and plot, or of an allotment under the Labourers Acts, amongst the persons for whom turbary can be provided by the Estates Commissioners when making regulations under Section 21 of the Land Act of 1903 for the user of turbary on holdings on which, prior to the purchase of the holding under the Land Purchase Acts the tenant had not the exclusive right to the turbary.

In connection with the sale of estates, up to and including 31st March, 1916, the Estates Commissioners forwarded to Rural District Councils and to the Local Government Board 189 representations or reports advising that 322 cottages should be erected to supply the needs of 279 holdings. Advances amounting to £5,703 have been made to agricultural labourers under Section 2 of the Act of 1903 and Section 19 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906.  Preservation of Ancient Monuments.

Up to the year 1903, Ancient Monuments did not come within the purview of the Irish Land Commission. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1882 empowered the owners of certain specified Ancient Monuments, and of others of a like character, to place them by deed under the guardianship of the Board of Works. An amending Act in 1892 extended the scope of this statute and enabled the Board of Works to expend money on the repair of such monuments when necessary; while Section 19 of the Local Government Act of 1898 permitted the County Councils to assume such guardianship also, and to prosecute for penalties under Section 6 of the Act of 1892, when ancient monuments were being dilapidated, injured, or endangered. The Irish Land Act of 1903, however, provided that when any land sold under the Land Purchase Acts contains a monument which the Land Commission consider to be of public interest, they may, with the consent of the Commissioners of Public Works, declare by order that the property in the monument shall not pass to the purchaser, and vest it in the Commissioners of Public Works; or, in the event of the Commissioners of Public Works refusing their consent, the Land Commission could vest it in the County Council, subject to their consent. 