I move:—
Section 2, sub-section (1). To delete in line 40 the word "sixty-five" and to substitute therefor the words "sixty-two and one half."
I explained last night that I am not very familiar with the land purchase laws, but I have followed the discussions in the Dáil on this subject and it appears to me to be clear that the case made by the Minister could not be sustained and that the demand for an alteration in the figure was justified. The amendment in the Dáil was to alter the figure from sixty-five to sixty. I have put down an amendment to make the figure sixty-two and a half. I do that simply on the figures presented by the Minister. If there is to be any figure in the Bill at all, the Minister seemed to me to justify the figure sixty-two and a half, and not sixty-five. The position appears to be that the fixing of the non-judicial tenants' annuities has been delayed and, if the process indicated in the Bill is not followed, certain grievances will accumulate in the course of delay in regard to this particular class of tenant. The Bill is intended to make a short cut and to fix a sum provisionally instead of having to wait for the judicial ruling. The figure sixty-five, a reduction of 35 per cent. upon the rental, has been based, according to the Minister's statement, upon the average of the agreements and the judicial fixings since the 1923 Act was passed.
It appears from the statement of the Minister that there are 35,000 non-judicial tenants and that standard purchase annuities have been fixed in respect of 12,000. In 9,000 cases out of the 12,000, standard purchase annuities were agreed on between the owners and the tenants, and in the remaining 3,000 out of the 12,000 cases such annuities were fixed by the Land Commission. I gather from the Report of the Land Commission covering the period 1923-28, that there were 9,030 cases in which agreement was arrived at and the average reduction in respect of those 9,030 was 33.3 per cent. There were 1,690 cases fixed by the Judicial Commissioner and the average in those cases was 36.3 per cent. The Minister argued that the whole— both those which were arrived at by agreement and those which were fixed by the Judicial Commissioner —must be taken as the basis of any figure to be placed in the Bill. I dissent from that and I draw attention to the fact that of those cases in which there were agreements, 1,901 occurred in two counties of Ulster, of which almost the whole—1,800, I think, were in Donegal, and the average rental of the holdings was only £2 3s. 6d.; so for practical purposes they may be ruled out of the calculation. In the cases of rentals fixed by the Judicial Commissioner in the poorer provinces, Connacht and Munster, the average reduction in the case of Connacht was 39.5, and in Munster, 38.9. In Leinster it was 34.7. In the poorer counties the averages were 39.5 and 38.9, which were considerably above the average for the country as a whole.
The Minister stated in the Dáil that during the last two or three years—which covers the period 1927-28 and does not take the earlier years into account, when most of the agreements were arrived at, I suppose — the judicial fixations averaged 37.9 of a reduction, but the Minister points out that it has been noticeable in recent months that cases in which annuities have been fixed by agreements between owners and tenants are getting smaller and smaller, and that possibly in a few months these cases of fixation would cease altogether. I conclude from that statement and the general facts in regard to the cases, that the most needy people entered into agreements easily— those cases where the tenants were either in a favourable position as tenants or where they were in specially unfavourable positions, where their rents had been unduly high. I also conclude that the cases that had been agreed upon were the easiest, and the cases that have not been agreed upon, which constitute practically the remainder of the cases, have not been agreed upon because the landlord was not willing to concede what the tenants considered desirable.
We have to compare, therefore, the remaining cases awaiting fixation not with the agreed cases, but with the fixed cases, and if we take the figures presented by the Minister himself and by the Commissioner's Report, we will see that the reductions due to fixation by the Commissioner have been considerably greater than the average of those which were agreed upon, so that if we are going to put a figure in the Bill at all it should be on the basis of the judicial fixation and not on the basis of the agreed arrangements. I think that it is not justifiable to lump together the agreements and the fixations and take the average of the whole. If that reasoning is fair, one has to consider the 36.3 per cent., which covers the whole country, taking specially into account the Connacht and Munster figures of 39.5 and 38.9, and the later percentage, which shows that during the last two or three years, which is a shorter period than the five-year period from 1923 to 1928, the figure of the fixed rentals has been 37.9. On the basis of these figures it seems to me that the only justifiable course is to put a similar figure, which is, roughly, 62½ per cent., into the Bill.
It is pointed out, of course, that the figure 65, or such figure as may be put in the Bill, is subject to revision. Either side may raise an objection and have a judicial finding. That is perfectly true, but it is equally true, whether it is an appeal by the landlord or by the tenant. The obvious and proper figure to put in the Bill is a figure which approximates to the figure fixed by the Judicial Commissioner. If we are assuming as we have a right to assume on the Minister's statement, that in the future the figure will be fixed after a judicial inquiry, then the figure placed in the Bill should obviously be, in my view, a figure approximating to that which has already been fixed by judicial inquiry. Whatever figure is put in the Bill will undoubtedly affect more or less the findings that will ultimately be decided on in cases of appeal. When the Legislature indicates a figure in respect of any matter which is subject to possible revision, it undoubtedly must influence the mind of the person who is deciding. He will take that as the datum line and work on that as to whether there should be a figure of a little over or a little under. In that case we should, I think, fix a figure which will approximate to the average of previous judicial findings. That I indicate as 62½ per cent., and it is on these grounds I move the amendment. The argument seems to me to be incontrovertible and based on the figure which the Minister himself has submitted to the Oireachtas.