asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries if he will state the total amount of (a) the purchase money on estates taken over by the Land Commission between 1st January, 1931, and 1st January, 1932, after appeals as to prices had been adjudicated upon by the Judicial Commissioner; (b) the total amount of the difference in the same period and as to the same estates between the prices fixed by the Land Commission and the prices fixed by the Judicial Commissioner; (c) if in view of the large amount of arrears of annuities due by tenants on newly acquired estates owing to high annuities payable, he will consider introducing proposals for legislation for acquiring estates at a price that will allow them to be let at an economic rent.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Purchase Money of Estates.
asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries if he will state the total amount of (a) the purchase money on estates taken over by the Land Commission between 1st January, 1927, and 1st January, 1932, after appeals as to prices had been adjudicated upon by the Judicial Commissioner; (b) the total amount of the difference in the same period and as to the same estates between the prices fixed by the Land Commission and the prices fixed by the Judicial Commissioner.
I shall take the Deputy's two questions together. The total purchase price of 14 estates of untenanted land acquired by the Land Commission under Section 24 of the Land Act, 1923, during the calendar year 1931, after appeals as to prices had been adjudicated upon by the Judical Commissioner, was £20,170. The total amount of the difference, in the same year and as to the same estates, between the prices fixed by the Land Commission and the prices fixed by the Judicial Commissioner was £2,082. The corresponding figures for the five-year period from 1927 to 1931 were £622,960 and £43,013, respectively, for 155 estates.
The existing legislation in regard to fixing the price of untenanted land acquired by the Land Commission has been found adequate in the great majority of cases for normal reasale at economic annuities, and in the exceptional cases the Commissioners may and regularly do exercise their powers of reselling at a loss.