asked the Minister for Lands and Agriculture if he will state when it is intended to float the stock for the completion of Land Purchase; whether inasmuch as the purchasing tenants cannot obtain the full benefits of the Land Act, 1923, until the landlords are settled with he will take immediate steps in this matter so that the tenants may be saved a very considerable sum of money which under the present conditions they are compelled to pass over to the landlords.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - STOCK FOR COMPLETION OF LAND PURCHASE.
Mr. HOGAN
No "flotation" of stock is contemplated by the Land Act of 1923, which enacts that 4½ per cent. Land Bonds are to be created by the Minister for Finance and issued by the Land Commission for the purposes of the Act.
The Minister for Finance has already created £400,000 of these bonds, and the Land Commission have already issued bonds against this credit in the case of eleven estates.
Further issues of bonds will be made by the Land Commission from week to week in respect of estates which have reached that stage.
Am I to understand that these estates are taken over by the Land Commission for distribution, or are they estates where the tenants are already in possession?
Mr. HOGAN
I would find it necessary to go through the eleven estates to answer that question. They are estates in any case, which are vested in the Land Commission and probably estates in the main which contain tenanted and untenanted land. I do know as a fact that the untenanted land purchased by the Land Commission in 1923 has already been divided, so that bonds must have been created and issued in respect of that land.
What I am concerned about is tenanted land. Have bonds been created for payment in cases of the tenanted land, or is there any body of tenants yet enjoying a reduction of 7s. in the £?
Mr. HOGAN
The tenants on eleven estates are enjoying the full benefits of the second reduction of the 1923 Act, and those eleven estates are mainly tenanted land. There is a certain amount of untenanted land.