asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries if he will state what price has been paid by the Land Commission for the Pollock estate, Co. Galway; whether all timber and the dwelling-house have been reserved; whether in fixing the rents on the new tenants allowance has been made for such reservations; whether any Valuation official visited the lands in question; if so, at what date or dates; if not, on what principle were the separate holdings valued; whether the Land Commission inspectors promised to have out-offices built for the tenants; and, if so, when will those promises be fulfilled, and what has caused the delay.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pollock Estate, County Galway.
The price paid by the Land Commission for these lands was £30,000. The timber and dwelling-house have been reserved pending offers therefor.
The rents fixed for each of the allotments were based on the valuation of the lands included therein. No promise was made that the Land Commission would build out-offices.
The Land Commission cannot say whether officials of the Commissioner of Valuation have visited the lands.
I submit that the Parliamentary Secretary has not answered portion of the question. The question I put was: "On what principle were the separate holdings valued; if the Department is aware whether the Valuation inspectors visited them or not?" Perhaps the Parliamentary Secretary would explain why these tenants who got this land are being charged roughly £1 an acre while similar land on the same estate is only paying 10/- an acre; and whether it would be possible to revise the rents so that the tenants could have rents fixed that they would be able to pay?
The estate was valued as a whole and it would be quite impossible to give the details of the valuation. I do not know at the moment what annuities are fixed in respect of the holdings already divided, but that is really a different question.