61 / 114
DECEMBER, 1910]
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
161
landlords or vendors who had sold. The
Act provided that at the option of the Vendor,
instead of cash being paid, advances should
be made in whole or in part by means of
Land Stock, Guaranteed 2f per cent. Stock,
and that this Stock should be issued at the
rate of £92 for an amount of Stock of the
nominal value of £100;
and as regards
future vendors who come in under the 1909
Act, they are to be paid all in Land Stock
bearing 3 per cent. The rate of bonus, too,
was materially varied and other alterations,
such as the well-known " Priority Register,"
introduced. What has been
the result ?
In this Hall on former occasions various
speakers pointed out the danger of inter
fering with the then existing Act under which
sales had been facilitated, and unfortunately
the prophetic views then presented have
proved to be only too true.
It had been
shown from time to time that the reason for
passing the Wyndham Act of 1903 was
because previous land purchase Acts had
failed
to attain their object, namely,
to
promote negotiations for land sales ;
and
now with the new Act what do we find ?
Purchase negotiations increased ?
On the
contrary, they are practically killed. We
are all painfully cognisant of the fact that
sales are not at all what they used to be;
we all know that owing to regulations issued
and lists of priorities for various cases being
established in the department, instead of
sales of estates brought into the department
years ago being expedited, they .have as a
result been blocked. We are quite aware that
facilities have been given to owners to accept
the purchase price of estates in Stock in the
place of cash ;
but Land Stock to-day is
quoted in the Public Stock Exchange Market
value per hundred for about £81 cash, and
who can blame owners if they hesitate to
accept payment
in
such
a depreciated
security when they know that their incum-
brancers have to be paid in hard cash.
Acceptance of Stock by vendors who sold
under the Act of 1903 means in effect a loss
of the bonus of 12 per cent., for that is,
speaking broadly, the rate of loss in a sale
of Land Stock at the present time. What is
the effect
?
A complete block.
It looks
very like a want of good faith with vendors
and tenants when those who entered into
agreements for sale with
bona fide
intentions
in the years 1905, 1906 and 1907 find them
selves postponed almost indefinitely before
they can calculate on receiving the purchase
money of their estates and discharging their
liabilities. Meantime,
as
to
the
tenant
purchasers, they are kept out of their owner
ship because their holdings are not vested,
and have to pay interest instead of instal
ments of purchase money.
A few figures to illustrate the situation
will prove interesting.
Under the various
facilities
provided
by
the Wyndham
Act
about
a quarter of a million of
Irish tenants have purchased or agreed to
purchase
their
holdings,
and
down
to
October, 1909, the amount agreed on as the
purchase price was 73J millions sterling—
six years' work, or on an average of over
12 millions
a
year.
This
proves,
the
popularity and workability of the Act of
1903. Now look at the other side of the
picture. According to the returns the first
six months' working of the Act of 1909, under
which vendors are to be paid in 3 per cent.
Land Stock with a varied scale of bonus, and
purchase rates of annuity are increased, we
find that but 352 tenants agreed to buy, and
the gross total purchase money was only
£106,000. Can anything more be required to
show that the new Act does not commend
itself to vendors or purchasers, and is to a
large extent not fulfilling the objects of its
framer ?
The results must be most dis
appointing.
The arrears of estates under the 1903
Act are appalling. According to a state
ment of Mr. Birrel'l on
the 8th March
last the amount waiting to be paid in in
respect of direct sales to tenants was 47
millions ;
in respect of sales to the Estates
Commissioners,
4 millions,
as well as a
considerable sum
in respect of sales to the
Congested Districts Board. Think what all
this means to the country at large. Realise
the unsettlement and uncertainty, to say
nothing of
the direct hardships which
necessarily follow
to
the parties directly
concerned—hundreds
and
hundreds
of
vendors,
tens
of
thousands of
tenants.
These people agreed to sell and purchase on
the faith of distinct parliamentary under
takings. Surely there should be some means
devised by the Treasury
to
relieve
the
situation ?
Apparently payment in a heavily