: I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1944, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Offices of the Minister for Lands and of the Irish Land Commission (44 and 45 Vict., c. 49, sec. 46, and c. 71, sec. 4; 48 and 49 Vict., c. 73, secs. 17, 18 and 20; 54 and 55 Vict., c. 48; 3 Edw. 7, c. 37; 7 Edw. 7, c. 38 and c. 56; 9 Edw. 7, c. 42; Nos. 27 and 42 of 1923; No. 25 of 1925; No. 11 of 1926; No. 19 of 1927; No. 31 of 1929; No. 11 of 1931; Nos. 33 and 38 of 1933; No. 11 of 1934; No. 41 of 1936; and No. 26 of 1939).
This Supplementary Estimate for £10 is merely in the nature of a token Vote in order to authorise the opening of a new sub-head T, supplementary to the Vote for Lands for the year ending 31st March, 1944. The necessity for this additional sub-head arises from an unforeseen contingency, consequent on the provisions of Section 18 of the Land Act, 1927 which deals with arrears of rates on untenanted land acquired by the Land Commission. On the allocation of the funds in an estate of which the Land Commission had obtained possession the judicial commissioner ruled that a claim of £107 19s. 3d. for arrears of rates due to a county council was payable in priority to the redemption of a purchase annuity on the lands and that the claim be paid direct by the Land Commission. The redemption had been already carried out and there remained to credit of the estate only a sum of £25 7s. 0d., leaving a balance of £82 12s. 3d. to be provided. This amount could be wholly made up out of savings on other sub-heads of the Vote for Lands, but in order to put the affair in financial order it is necessary to obtain a token Vote from Dáil Eireann. Accordingly, a gross Estimate of £83 is submitted, from which is deducted £73 on account of savings on other sub-heads, leaving a net Estimate of £10, which I would ask the House to approve.