asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries if in view of the agricultural depression now prevailing and the fact that the land annuities are not immediately required, steps will be taken that payment of the annuities falling due on 1st June, 1932, will not be demanded before 1st October, 1932.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Payment of Land Annuities.
The Deputy's suggestion is not practicable. If the land purchase annuities are not paid as they fall due, their payment by the tenant purchasers and their collection by the Land Commission become matters of increasing difficulty and the ultimate loser is the general taxpayer who has to make up through the operation of the Guarantee Fund any deficit in his county. The question of the retention by the State of the land purchase annuities hitherto paid to the National Debt Commissioners of Great Britain does not affect in any way the liability of annuitants under both old and new Acts for the full and prompt payment of their annuities to the Land Commission.
The Minister is certainly aware of the depression in agriculture. I think his reply is unsatisfactory. The moneys that are being paid in at the moment are not wanted by the State. Owing to the President's statement that the annuities are to be withheld to relieve depression, would he not give the agricultural community the advantages of the next harvest before paying in their annuities?
The annuities are being paid satisfactorily and I have no reason to come to the conclusion that they will not continue to be paid.
May I ask the Minister if he is in a position to state that these annuities if due and paid will not be handed over to the Minister for Finance—that the Minister for Finance will be kept clear of the annuities? If paid over they will be required for no useful purpose, and why not let them remain in the hands of the people who are paying them at present?