Page:The Irish land acts; a short sketch of their history and development.djvu/59

45 In the form of application for the sale of an estate prescribed by the Land Commission rules, the vendor is obliged to state what, if any, Ancient Monuments are situated on the lands he proposes to sell; and the inspector who visits the lands on behalf of the Land Commission is instructed to report particularly on all structures of this kind that come beneath his notice. Up to the 31st March, 1916, thirty-four monuments had been vested in the Commissioners of Public Works and sixty-nine in various County Councils, in accordance with the provision of this section of the Act of 1903; and in other cases, such as that of the historic Hill of Tara, ancient monuments situated on estates being sold under the Land Purchase Acts have, by arrangement with the parties concerned, been placed under the guardianship of the Board of Works under the provisions of the Ancient Monuments Protection Acts.

Timber.

The Act of 1860, already mentioned in chapter 6, imposed certain penalties on tenants cutting down trees without the consent of the landlord, except in the case of timber duly registered under the Timber Acts; and power so to register timber was conferred upon tenants having statutory terms by the Timber Act of 1888. This restriction, however, did not extend to tenants who had become proprietors of their holdings under the Land Purchase Acts; and it was found, in 1902, that while the general tendency was to preserve trees for shelter purposes, there were some serious examples to the contrary, so that the opinion was widely expressed that some steps should be taken to protect existing timber from devastation. Section 32 (b) of the Act of 1909 accordingly provides that the proprietor of a holding purchased under that Act shall not, without the consent of the Department of Agriculture, cut down or uproot any tree (other than a fruit tree or osier) which is necessary for ornament or shelter; and for each offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5.

Turbary.

Strictly speaking, turbary is the right to dig and carry away turf from the soil of another, and to enter upon his land for that purpose; and when such a right is appurtenant to a holding before the sale it is duly reserved to the tenant on vesting by Section 34 of the Land Act of 1896. When, however, a tenant had no such right before the sale, he can buy "parcels" of bog as additional land, which will be vested in him in fee-simple, subject to the payment of an annuity exactly as if it were a holding. These "parcels" may be bought direct from the landlord if he has bog available for the purpose, or from the Estates Commissioners if they have suitable bog in their possession acquired as untenanted land. Or, again, the Land Commission