There are two Government recommendations.
Public Business. - Land Bond Bill, 1933 (Certified Money Bill)—Final Stages.
Question proposed: "That the Bill be now received for final consideration."
Cathaoirleach
I move recommendation No. 1:—
Section 1. After the word "was" in line 44 to insert the words "agreed upon or."
I second.
This is a drafting amendment. The paragraph with the insertion of the amendment will read:—
Untenanted land which hereafter becomes vested in the Land Commission under Section 24 of the Land Act, 1923, but the price of which was agreed upon or fixed before the passing of this Act.
It is considered probable that the paragraph in its original form was not sufficiently wide to include cases in which the price had been agreed on between the Land Commission and the owner but in which there was no actual fixation by publication in Iris Oifigiúil. It was thought that it might be held that the word “fixed” in the section had the same meaning as in Section 25 of the Land Act of 1923, that is, fixed by the Land Commission in default of agreement or by the judicial commissioner on appeal. Section 24 of the 1923 Land Act provided, amongst other things, that “all untenanted land situated in any congested districts or county, and such untenanted land situated elsewhere as the Land Commission shall declare to be required for the purpose of relieving congestion or of facilitating the resale of tenanted land, shall by virtue of this Act vest in the Land Commission on the appointed day.” The section with the proposed recommendation will make it quite clear that that is not the meaning which it was intended should apply to this Act. The fixation will not be fixation within the meaning of the statute, but that the Bill would apply to those cases in which there was an agreement for sale between the vendor on the one hand and the Land Commission on the other and the price at which the sale might take place had been tentatively fixed subject to any subsequent variations that might be necessitated by the requirements of the statute.
Recommendation agreed to.
I move recommendation No. 2:—
Section 4, sub-section (5). To insert before the sub-section a new sub-section as follows:—
(5) The Minister for Finance shall, by regulations made by him under this Act, provide for the immediate redemption of new land bonds transferred by order of the judicial commissioner in redemption of land purchase annuities charged on lands acquired by the Land Commission under the Principal Act.
I second.
Section 14 of the Land Act of 1923 provided that where land which was subject to a purchase annuity has been acquired by the Land Commission under that Act, the annuity for the repayment of the original advance shall be regarded and dealt with as a claim attaching to the purchase money of the land acquired under the Act of 1923. This meant that the purchase annuity set up under earlier Acts had to be redeemed by means of repayment in land bonds, and with these bonds fluctuating in value it would have been virtually impossible to fix with any accuracy the amount of the land bonds required to redeem the annuity. It was consequently provided by Section 1 of the Act of 1923 that regulations to be made by the Minister for Finance for drawing of land bonds should provide for the immediate redemption of bonds transferred by order of the judicial commissioner in satisfaction of death duties or in repayment of land purchase annuities. The amount of bonds transferred in satisfaction of dealt duties was very large and the land bond fund was quite insufficient to provide the redemption money for these bonds. The result was that considerable draws had to be made on the guarantee fund and grants had to be withheld from local authorities. Section 3 of the Land Act of 1931 provided that bonds transferred in satisfaction of death duties were no longer to be drawn for immediate redemption. This provision was made possible by the fact that land bonds were then over par and were not likely to fall below par and consequently there was likely to be no loss of revenue. In the case of the redemption of the purchase annuities, any serious draws on the guarantee fund are unlikely, but the purpose of this recommendation is to provide for the redemption of the purchase annuities in the manner in which I have already indicated.
Where is the money to come from for the redeeming of these bonds?
It would have to be provided by the Exchequer or it would be a deduction from the purchase price in cases where purchase annuities were being redeemed.
Will public money have to be supplied to redeem these bonds? What arrangements have been made for carrying this out financially?
Of course, the amount that will be required from time to time will be very little and it has not been considered necessary to make any special arrangements for the redemption of these bonds.
These bonds are standing over par. Will the Exchequer benefit by that fact, or will the men to whom the bonds are going get the benefit of the amount which is over par? These are not the new issue of bonds. These are the 4½ per cent. bonds that to-day are standing at 108 or 109. If the Minister issues 1,000 of these who gets the £8 or £9 on each?
That depends on when the purchase price was originally fixed. In the case of the 1923 Land Act the purchase price was fixed on the basis of the income which a person might normally anticipate would apply to land. In this case the land bonds will only be issued to the extent that they will provide him with an equivalent income. If it should happen in the redemption of purchase annuities that we have to accept bonds, then we will only accept bonds for redemption at their nominal value so that in that case we will not lose anything.
Recommendation agreed to.
Question—"That the Bill be now received for final consideration"—put and agreed to.
Question—"That the Bill do now pass"—put and agreed to.