Page:The Irish land acts; a short sketch of their history and development.djvu/60

46 may vest bog in the Department of Agriculture, the County Council, the Rural District Council, or other trustees (Section 4, Act of 1903, as extended by Section 18, Act of 1909), who deal with it in accordance with a scheme prepared under Section 20 of the Act of 1903.

Section 21 of the Act of 1903 provides that where portion of a holding consists of bog, and the purchaser had not an exclusive right of turbary before the sale, the Land Commission may make regulations authorising the cutting or making of turf on that bog by any occupiers of land in the neighbourhood of the bog. As has now (1916) been decided by the Court of Appeal in the Scott Estate, over-ruling the decision in the King Harman Estate, the Commissioners have power to make these regulations at any time, even after the conclusion of the sale.

Mining and Mineral Rights.

In the early Land Acts, practically speaking, mining and mineral rights were left at the disposal of the interested parties by private contract; and not infrequently this course resulted in anomalies and inconveniences. The mineral rights on one or two holdings in the middle of an estate would belong to the tenant purchasers, while those on the surrounding holdings would remain in the possession of the landlord. The consequent division and confusion of ownership placed great and sometimes insuperable obstacles in the way of anyone attempting to work minerals where such existed in profitable quantities. The Act of 1903 (Section 13) therefore reserved to the Land Commission the exclusive right of mining and taking minerals on lands sold through the Estates Commissioners. This reservation did not affect mineral rights not in the possession or enjoyment of the vendor, or mines and quarries actually being worked at the time of sale; or, specifically, stone gravel sand or clay; nor did it apply to demesne or other lands re-sold to landlords, in pursuance of Section 3 of the Act.

The Irish Land Act, 1907, made provision for the disposal of the mining rights thus reserved. Under it, the Irish Land Commission may let, lease, sell or demise much exclusive right of mining and taking minerals, or digging or searching for them to any person, in such manner and subject to such conditions as they think proper. Section 13 of the Act of 1903 further provides that the vendor of the estate (or the person entitled if the lands had not been sold) shall be entitled to receive 25 per cent. of the profit accruing to the Land Commission from the exercise of these mining rights.

Sporting Rights.

Section 13 (1) of the Act of 1903 provides that, where at the time of sale of any land to the Land Commission, or to tenants or others, the vendor has, subject to the provisions of the Ground