Land Act, 1933

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Number 38 of 1933.

LAND ACT, 1933.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I.

PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL.

PART II.

THE MINISTER AND THE APPEAL TRIBUNAL.

PART III.

ARREARS AND REVISION OF PURCHASE ANNUITIES, RENTS, AND OTHER ANNUAL PAYMENTS.

PART IV.

MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS OF THE LAW RELATING TO LAND PURCHASE.

Number 38 of 1933.

LAND ACT, 1933.

AN ACT TO AMEND GENERALLY THE LAW, FINANCE, AND PRACTICE RELATING TO LAND PURCHASE, AND IN PARTICULAR TO MAKE FURTHER AND BETTER PROVISION FOR THE EXECUTION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE JUDICIAL AND LAY COMMISSIONERS OF THE LAND COMMISSION AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE REVISION OF PURCHASE ANNUITIES AND CERTAIN OTHER ANNUAL PAYMENTS AND FOR THE FUNDING OF ARREARS THEREOF, AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE MATTERS AFORESAID. [13th October, 1933.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

PART I.

Preliminary and General.

Short title, construction and citation.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Land Act, 1933.

(2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Land Purchase Acts and may be cited with those Acts.

Definitions.

2.—In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Lands and Fisheries;

the expression “the first gale day in the year 1933” means the first day in the year 1933, which is a gale day in respect of the annuity, rent, interest, or other annual payment in respect of which the expression is used;

the expression “officer of the Land Commission” includes a Land Commissioner other than the Judicial Commissioner;

the expression “Lay Commissioner” means a Land Commissioner other than the Judicial Commissioner;

references to proceedings for the recovery of any annuity, rent, interest, or other annual payment shall be construed as including a sale or proceedings for a sale of the holding, tenancy, or other land on account of a default in payment of such annuity, rent, interest or other annual payment.

General rules and regulations.

3.—(1) The Minister may, with the concurrence of a majority of a committee consisting of the Judicial Commissioner, the Secretary of the Land Commission, and a Lay Commissioner appointed for the purpose by the Minister and after consultation with the President of the Incorporated Law Society, make rules for carrying into effect the provisions (other than provisions relating to land purchase finance) of the Land Purchase Acts including this Act (except Part II thereof) and in this Act the word “prescribed” means prescribed by such rules.

(2) Rules made under the next preceding sub-section of this section may revoke in whole or in part or amend any rule made under any of the Land Purchase Acts except rules relating to land purchase finance.

(3) The Minister for Finance may make rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act relating to land purchase finance, and may by such rules or regulations adapt to the requirements of this Act any provision relating to land purchase finance contained in any Act passed before this Act.

Expenses.

4.—(1) All expenses incurred by the Minister in the execution of this Act and not otherwise provided for by this Act shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(2) All payments made and expenses incurred by the Land Commission in the execution of this Act and not otherwise provided for by this Act shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

PART II.

The Minister and the Appeal Tribunal.

Commencement of this Part of this Act.

5.—(1) This Part of this, Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister shall by order appoint to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

(2) In this Part of this Act the expression “the appointed day” means the day appointed by the Minister under this section to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

Powers of the Minister in relation to the Land Commission and the Lay Commissioners.

6.—(1) The following matters shall be excepted matters for the purposes of this section and the expression “excepted matters” shall in this section be construed accordingly, that is to say:—

(a) the determination of the persons from whom land is to be acquired or resumed;

(b) the determination of the actual lands to be acquired or resumed;

(c) the determination of the price to be paid for land so acquired or resumed;

(d) the determination of the persons to be selected as allottees of untenanted land;

(e) the determination of the price at which land is to be sold to any such allottee;

(f) the determination of the new holding which is to be provided for a tenant or proprietor whose holding has been acquired by the Land Commission;

(g) the determination whether or not a holding has been used by the tenant thereof as an ordinary farm in accordance with proper methods of husbandry.

(2) On and after the appointed day, the Land Commission, in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties for the time being vested in it by law (including this Act), and the Lay Commissioners, in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties for the time being specifically vested in them by law (including this Act), shall, save in relation to excepted matters, act under and in accordance with the directions, whether general or particular, of the Minister, and the Minister shall have and may exercise, if and so far as he shall think proper, full and unrestricted power of regulating and controlling every and any exercise or performance by the Land Commission or the Lay Commissioners (as the case may be) of any such power or duty not relating to an excepted matter and also power of reserving to himself rights of approval and disapproval or of reconsideration, revision and confirmation of every or any act of the Land Commission or the Lay Commissioners not relating to an excepted matter.

(3) All powers and duties for the time being vested by law (including this Act) in the Land Commission or the Lay Commissioners in relation to an excepted matter shall, on and after the appointed day be exercised and performed in all respects as if this section had not been enacted, save that—

(a) any appeal which may lie by law (including this Act) from the determination of an excepted matter shall lie to the Appeal Tribunal, and

(b) the Minister may, if and so far as he thinks proper, arrange by reference to the class or classes of case or the county or counties in which the land concerned is situate the distribution amongst the Lay Commissioners of their work in relation to the excepted matters, but not so as to allocate any particular case or land to any particular Lay Commissioner.

(4) Nothing in this section shall apply to the Judicial Commissioner or to the Appeal Tribunal or operate to give the Minister any power or control of any kind over or in relation to the exercise of his functions by the Judicial Commissioner or their functions by the Appeal Tribunal.

The Appeal Tribunal.

7.—(1) On and after the appointed day the Judicial Commissioner and two Lay Commissioners nominated for the purpose by the Executive Council shall constitute a tribunal, to be known and in this Act referred to as the Appeal Tribunal, to hear and determine all such applications, matters, and things as are by this Act or shall hereafter be authorised to be brought before it.

(2) Every Lay Commissioner appointed to be a member of the Appeal Tribunal shall hold his office as such member by the same tenure as a Judge of the Circuit Court holds his office as such Judge.

(3) Whenever the Executive Council is satisfied that a member of the Appeal Tribunal other than the Judicial Commissioner is temporarily unable on account of illness, absence on vacation, or other sufficient reason to discharge his duties as such member, the Executive Council may appoint another Lay Commissioner to be a member of the Appeal Tribunal during such temporary inability, and every Lay Commissioner so appointed shall while his said appointment continues hold office as such member by the same tenure as a Judge of the Circuit Court holds his office as such Judge.

(4) The Judicial Commissioner shall preside at every sitting of the Appeal Tribunal.

(5) Every question before the Appeal Tribunal shall be determined by a majority of the members of the tribunal, save that, on any question which, in the opinion of the Judicial Commissioner with the concurrence of one or both of the other members of the tribunal, is a question of law, the opinion of the Judicial Commissioner shall prevail.

(6) An appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from every determination by the Appeal Tribunal that a question before it is or is not a question of law, and for that purpose whenever the Appeal Tribunal determines that a question before it is or is not a question of law, the order made by the Appeal Tribunal on the said question so before it shall state the fact of such determination and whether the said question so before it was determined to be or was determined not to be a question of law.

(7) The Minister may, with the concurrence of a majority of a committee consisting of the Judicial Commissioner, the Secretary of the Land Commission, a Lay Commissioner appointed for the purpose by the Minister, a practising barrister nominated by the Council of the Bar of Saorstát Eireann, and the President of the Incorporated Law Society, make rules regulating and prescribing the practice and procedure of the Appeal Tribunal.

Applications to the Appeal Tribunal by way of appeal under this or any future Act.

8.—(1) Whenever, on or after the appointed day, an order is made or a thing is done, in exercise of a power conferred by this Act (other than this Part thereof) or any Act passed after this Act and an unlimited right of appeal or a limited right of appeal to the Appeal Tribunal from an exercise of such power is given by this Act (other than this Part thereof) or any Act passed after this Act, any person aggrieved by the making of such order or the doing of such thing may apply to the Appeal Tribunal for relief from such exercise of such power but limited, in the case of a limited right of appeal, to such relief as is within such limited right.

(2) The Appeal Tribunal shall hear and determine every application made to it under this section and may give such relief or make such other order thereon as the Appeal Tribunal shall consider to be just and equitable.

Transfer of appeals from the Judicial Commissioner to the Appeal Tribunal.

9.—(1) On and after the appointed day no appeal to the Judicial Commissioner shall lie from an order of the Land Commission or of the Land Commissioners other than the Judicial Commissioner but, in lieu thereof, wherever any such appeal would have lain on or after the appointed day if this section had not been enacted the like appeal shall, in cases not otherwise provided for by this Part of this Act, lie to the Appeal Tribunal.

(2) Every appeal to the Judicial Commissioner which is brought before the appointed day and the hearing of which is not begun before the appointed day shall be deemed to be an appeal to the Appeal Tribunal and shall be heard and determined accordingly.

(3) In this section the expression “order of the Land Commission” includes an order of the Land Commission under section 3 of the Forestry Act, 1928 (No. 34 of 1928), and a decision of the Land Commission under section 4 of the Mines and Minerals Act, 1931 (No. 54 of 1931).

Appeals from orders of the Appeal Tribunal.

10.—Whenever the Appeal Tribunal makes an order from which an appeal would have lain if this Part of this, Act had not been enacted and such order had been made by the Judicial Commissioner, the like appeal shall (save as is otherwise provided by this Act) lie from such order of the Appeal Tribunal as would have lain as aforesaid.

Transfer of certain powers to the Appeal Tribunal.

11.—On any application by the Land Commission for or in connection with the resumption of a holding, the powers of the Court under section 5 of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881, as amended, by subsequent enactments (including this Act) shall be exercised by the Appeal Tribunal, and the decision of the Appeal Tribunal on such application shall be final.

PART III.

Arrears and Revision of Purchase Annuities, Rents, and other Annual Payments.

Arrears and revision of purchase annuities payable to the Land Commission.

12.—(1) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to proceedings by the Land Commission for the recovery of arrears of any purchase annuity to which this section applies which accrued due on or before the first gale day in the year 1933, that is to say:—

(a) no such proceeding shall be begun after the passing of this Act;

(b) any judgment or decree for the payment of any such, arrears obtained in any such proceeding but not executed before the passing of this Act shall, immediately upon such passing, become and be void and unenforceable;

(c) no such proceeding which was begun before and is pending at the passing of this Act shall be further prosecuted or proceeded with by the Land Commission after such passing unless a defence was filed or entered in such proceeding before such passing.

(2) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Land Commission shall ascertain the amount of the arrears of every purchase annuity to which this section applies which were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, and the amount of the costs and expenses (if any) incurred by the Land Commission before the passing of this Act in proceedings (if any) commenced before the 1st day of October, 1932, for the recovery of such arrears, and immediately upon such ascertainment—

(a) where the amount so ascertained of such arrears does not exceed the aggregate amount of such purchase annuity payable during the three years ending on the first gale day in the year 1933, such arrears together with the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and not otherwise; and

(b) in every other case, the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses together with so much of such arrears as is equal to the said aggregate amount shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and the residue of such arrears shall not be payable.

(3) The amount payable by the purchaser in respect of any instalment accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 of any purchase annuity to which this section applies shall—

(a) in the case of a purchase annuity payable by an allottee in respect of a parcel of land purchased under the Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act, 1919 , or under the Land Act, 1923 , or any Act amending or extending that Act, be 45 per cent. and no more of the full amount of such instalment; and

(b) in every other case, be 50 per cent. and no more of the full amount of such instalment.

This sub-section shall apply to a purchase annuity notwithstanding that the holding in respect of which such annuity is payable was sold at an enhanced price owing to expenditure by the Land Commission on improvements.

(4) Where, in the case of a purchase annuity to which this section applies, arrears of rent or of interest on purchase money or of interest in lieu of rent or of payment in lieu of rent were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, in respect of the holding in respect of which such purchase annuity is payable, the said arrears of rent, interest on purchase money, interest in lieu of rent or payment in lieu of rent (as the case may be) shall be deemed for the purpose of this section to be arrears of the said purchase annuity and this section shall apply thereto accordingly.

(5) This section (save as otherwise expressly provided therein) applies to every purchase annuity subsisting at the passing of this Act and payable in respect of a holding purchased under the Land Purchase Acts, including holdings for the purchase of which advances were made on the sale of lands bought by the Congested Districts Board out of the funds at its disposal.

(6) This section also applies to the following sums and moneys as if they were purchase annuities, and the expression “purchase annuities” shall for the purposes of this section be construed as including the said following sums and moneys, that is to say:—

(a) annual sums and additional sums payable by purchasers of holdings for the purchase of which agreements for purchase are deemed to have been entered into under the Land Purchase Acts; and

(b) annual sums and additional sums payable by tenants of retained holdings for the purchase of which agreements for purchase are not deemed to have been entered into; and

(c) annual sums and additional sums and arrears of rents or of interest on purchase money payable by purchasers of holdings comprised in a list of congested districts holdings published in pursuance of section 23 of the Land Act, 1931 , or in a list of holdings on untenanted land published in pursuance of section 24 of that Act.

Arrears and revision of purchase annuities payable to the Commissioners of Public Works.

13.—(1) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to proceedings by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland for the recovery of any arrears of a purchase annuity to which this section applies which accrued due on or before the first gale day in the year 1933, that is to say:—

(a) no such proceedings shall be begun after the passing of this Act;

(b) any judgment or decree for the payment of any such arrears obtained in any such proceeding but not executed before the passing of this Act shall, immediately upon such passing, become and be void and unenforceable;

(c) no such proceceding which was begun before and is pending at the passing of this Act shall be further prosecuted or proceeded with by the said Commissioners after such passing unless a defence was filed or entered in such proceceding before such passing.

(2) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall ascertain the amount of the arrears of every purchase annuity to which this section applies which were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, and the amount of the costs and expenses (if any) incurred by the said Commissioners before the passing of this Act in proceedings (if any) commenced before the 1st day of October, 1932, for the recovery of such arrears, and immediately upon such ascertainment—

(a) where the amount so ascertained of such arrears does not exceed three times the yearly amount of such purchase annuity, such arrears together with the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and not otherwise; and

(b) in every other case, the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses together with so much of such arrears as is equal to three times the yearly amount of such purchase annuity shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and not otherwise and the residue of such arrears shall not be payable

(3) The amount payable by the purchaser in respect of any instalment accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 of any purchase annuity to which this section applies shall be 50 per cent. and no more of the full amount of such instalment.

(4) This section applies to purchase annuities payable in respect of holdings purchased under Parts II and III of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870.

Arrears and revision of interest in lieu of rent.

14.—(1) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to the proceedings by the Land Commission for the recovery of any interest in lieu of rent which accrued due on or before the first gale day in the year 1933, that is to say:—

(a) no such proceedings shall be begun after the passing of this Act;

(b) any judgment or decree for the payment of any such interest obtained in any such proceeding but not executed before the passing of this Act shall, immediately upon such passing, become and be void and unenforceable;

(c) no such proceeding which was begun before and is pending at the passing of this Act shall be further prosecuted or proceeded with by the Land Commission after such passing unless a defence was filed or entered in such proceeding before such passing.

(2) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Land Commission shall ascertain the amount of the arrears of interest in lieu of rent which were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, by each purchasing tenant liable to pay such interest, and the amount of the costs and expenses (if, any) incurred by the Land Commission before the passing of this Act in proceedings (if any) commenced before the 1st day of October, 1932, for the recovery of such arrears, and immediately upon such ascertainment—

(a) where the amount so ascertained of such arrears does not exceed three times the yearly amount of such interest in lieu of rent, such arrears and the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses together with interest at the rate of four and one-half per cent. per annum on the said arrears, costs, and expenses from the first gale day in the year, 1933 shall (if such arrears, costs, and expenses are not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be added to the purchase money of the holding when it is vested in the purchaser; and

(b) in every other case, the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses and so much of such arrears as is equal to three times the yearly amount of such interest in lieu of rent together with interest at the rate of four and one-half per cent. per annum on the said costs and expenses and so much as aforesaid of the said arrears from the first gale day in the year 1933 shall (if the said costs and expenses and so much as aforesaid of the said arrears are not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be added to the purchase money of the holding when it is vested in the purchaser, and the residue of the said arrears shall not be payable.

(3) The amount payable by any purchasing tenant in respect of any gale of interest in lieu of rent accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 shall be 50 per cent. and no more of the full amount of such gale.

(4) The Land Commission shall, at such times and in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct, pay to the several persons entitled thereto the following sums in so far as they shall not have been otherwise paid to such persons, that is tο say:—

(a) all arrears of interest in lieu of rent proceedings for the recovery of which are prevented by this section from being commenced or from being further prosecuted or proceeded with or a judgment or decree for the payment of which is by this section rendered void; and

(b) a sum equal to the amount paid by each tenant purchaser in respect of each gale of interest in lieu of rent accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933.

Arrears and revision of payment in lieu of rent.

15.—(1) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to proceedings by the Land Commission for the recovery of any payment in lieu of rent which accrued due on or before the first gale day in the year 1933, that is to say:—

(a) no such proceeding shall be begun after the passing of this Act;

(b) any judgment or decree for the payment of any such payment in lieu of rent obtained in any such proceeding but not executed before the passing of this Act shall, immediately upon such passing, become and be void and unenforceable;

(c) no such proceeding which was begun before and is pending at the passing of this Act shall be further prosecuted or proceeded with by the Land Commission after such passing unless a defence was filed or entered therein before such passing.

(2) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Land Commission shall ascertain the amount of the arrears of payment in lieu of rent which were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, by each purchasing tenant liable to pay such payment in lieu of rent, and the amount of the costs and expenses (if any) incurred by the Land Commission before the passing of this Act in proceedings (if any) commenced before the 1st day of October, 1932, for the recovery of such arrears, and immediately upon such ascertainment—

(a) where the amount so ascertained of such arrears does not exceed three times the yearly amount of such payment in lieu of rent, then, if and when the holding is vested in the Land Commission, such arrears together with the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and not otherwise; and

(b) in every other case, if and when the holding is vested in the Land Commission, the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses together with so much of such arrears as is equal to three times the yearly; amount of such payment in lieu of rent shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and not otherwise and the residue of such arrears shall not be payable.

(3) The amount payable by any purchasing tenant in respect of any gale of payment in lieu of rent accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 shall be 50 per cent. and no more of the full amount of such gale without prejudice to the payments directed to be made by the Land Commission under sub-section (4) of section 20 of the Land Act, 1923 .

(4) This section does not apply to arrears of payment in lieu of rent payable in respect of a holding which was vested in the purchaser before the 31st day of July, 1933.

Arrears and revision of rent and interest payable to the Land Commission.

16.—(1) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to proceedings by the Land Commission for the recovery of any arrears of any rent or interest on purchase money to which this section applies which accrued due on or before the first gale day in the year 1933, that is to say:—

(a) no such proceedings shall be begun after the passing of this Act;

(b) any judgment or decree for the payment of any such arrears obtained in any such proceeding but not executed before the passing of this Act shall, immediately upon such passing, become and be void and unenforceable;

(c) no such proceeding which was begun before and is pending at the passing of this Act shall be further prosecuted or proceeded with by the Land Commission after such passing unless a defence was filed or entered in such proceeding before such passing.

(2) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Land Commission shall ascertain the amount of the arrears of rent or interest on purchase money to which this section applies which were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, by every tenant or allottee by whom any such rent or interest is payable, and the amount of the costs and expenses (if any) incurred by the Land Commission before the passing of this Act in proceedings (if any) commenced before the 1st day of October, 1932, for the recovery of such arrears, and immediately upon such ascertainment—

(a) where the amount so ascertained of such arrears does not exceed three times the yearly amount of such rent or interest (as the case may be), such arrears and the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses together with interest at the rate of four and one-half per cent. per annum on the said arrears, costs and expenses from the first gale day in the year 1933 shall (if such arrears, costs and expenses are not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be added to the purchase money of the holding or parcel when it is vested in the purchaser; and

(b) in every other case, the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses and so much of such arrears as is equal to three times the yearly amount of such rent or interest (as the case may be) together with interest at the rate of four and one-half per cent. per annum on the said costs and expenses and so much as aforesaid of the said arrears from the first gale day in the year 1933 shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be added to the purchase money of the holding or parcel when it is vested in the purchaser, and the residue of the said arrears shall not be payable.

(3) The amount payable by the tenant or allottee in respect of any gale accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 of any rent or interest on purchase money to which this section applies shall—

(a) in the case of interest payable by an allottee in respect of a parcel of land which was purchased under the Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act, 1919 , or was, on the 28th day of June, 1933, vested in the Land Commission under the Land Act, 1923 , or any Act amending or extending that Act, be 45 per cent. and no more of the full amount of such gale; and

(b) in every other case, be 50 per cent. of the full amount of such gale.

(4) The next preceding sub-section of this section shall apply to rent or interest on purchase money notwithstanding that the price at which the Land Commission is prepared to sell the holding in respect of which such rent or interest is payable is an enhanced price owing to expenditure by the Land Commission on improvements, but the said sub-section shall not apply to any rent or interest on purchase money payable wholly in respect of expenditure for improvements sanctioned specifically after the 28th day of June, 1933, for the improvement of a holding or parcel of untenanted land, nor to so much of any rent or interest on purchase money (payable partly in repayment of such expenditure) as is attributable to such expenditure.

(5) This section applies to rents and interest on purchase money payable to the Land Commission by tenants of holdings or allottees of parcels of land under agreements or undertakings to purchase, lettings for temporary convenience, or grazing or other agreements on lands acquired by the Congested Districts Board or by the Land Commission.

Arrears and revision of rents payable by sub-tenants.

17.—Where the whole or part of a holding to which any of the foregoing sections of this Part of this Act applies is sublet otherwise than for any of the following purposes, that is to say, for agistment, conacre, or temporary pasturage, or for temporary convenience, or to meet a temporary necessity, and the Land Commission has not made, before the passing of this Act, an order deeming the sub-tenants to be tenants of separate portions of the holdings, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) no proceeding by the immediate landlord against any such sub-tenant for the recovery of arrears of rent which accrued due on or before the first gale day in the year 1933 shall be begun after the passing of this Act;

(b) any judgment or decree for the payment of any such arrears obtained in any such proceeding but not executed before the passing of this Act shall, immediately upon such passing, become and be void and unenforceable;

(c) no such proceeding which was begun before and is pending at the passing of this Act shall be further prosecuted or proceeded with by the immediate landlord after such passing unless a defence was filed or entered in such proceeding before such passing;

(d) as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Land Commission shall ascertain the amount of the arrears of rent (other than any such rent which was the subject of proceedings by the immediate landlord which were pending at the passing of this Act and in which a defence was filed or entered before such passing) which were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, by every such sub-tenant as aforesaid and the amount of the costs and expenses (if any) incurred by the immediate landlord before the passing of this Act in proceedings for such recovery;

(e) for the purpose of any such ascertainment, the Land Commission may accept any figures agreed upon by the immediate landlord and the sub-tenant concerned;

(f) where the amount so ascertained of such arrears does not exceed three times the yearly amount of the rent (as reduced in pursuance of section 23 of the Land Act, 1923 ) payable by the sub-tenant immediately before the first gale day in the year 1933, the amount so ascertained of such arrears and the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses shall be a funded debt within the meaning of this section and be payable in the manner provided by this section and not otherwise;

(g) in every case to which the next preceding paragraph does not apply, the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses together with so much of such arrears as is equal to three times the yearly amount of such rent shall be a funded debt within the meaning of this section and shall be payable in the manner provided by this section and not otherwise and the residue of such arrears shall not be payable;

(h) if a funding annuity is charged on the holding the Land Commission shall apportion it between the separate holdings into which the holding has been divided and then—

(i) if the sum payable by means of the portion of such funding annuity charged on the separate holding of the sub-tenant is equal to the funded debt, the sub-tenant shall be entitled to credit for the funded debt as against the sum paid by means of the said portion of such funding annuity, or

(ii) if the sum payable by means of the said portion of the funding annuity is greater than the funded debt, the sub-tenant shall be entitled to credit for the funded debt as against so much of the said portion of such funding annuity as is determined by the Land Commission to be attributable to a sum equal to the funded debt, or

(iii) if the sum payable by means of the said portion of the funding annuity is less than the funded debt, the sub-tenant shall be entitled to credit as against the said portion of such funding annuity for so much of the funded debt as is equal to the sum payable by means of the said portion of such funding annuity, and the residue of the funded debt shall be paid in the manner provided by the next following paragraph of this sub-section;

(i) if no funding annuity is charged on the holding or if the sub-tenant is not entitled under the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section to credit for the whole of the funded debt, the funded debt or the portion thereof for which the sub-tenant is not so entitled to credit shall be paid by means of a funding annuity charged on the separate holding of the sub-tenant;

(j) the Land Commission shall, at such times and in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct, pay to the person entitled to the said arrears of rent and costs and expenses a sum equal to that part (if any) of the funded debt for which the sub-tenant is not entitled to credit under the foregoing paragraphs of this sub-section;

(k) if no funded debt is payable by the sub-tenant or if the credit to which the sub-tenant is entitled under the foregoing paragraphs of this section does not extend to the whole of the portion of the funding annuity charged on the separate holding of the sub-tenant, the said portion of the funding annuity or so much thereof as is not covered by the said credit (as the case may be) shall be redeemed out of the redemption price of the intervening interest of the immediate landlord so far as such redemption price will extend after payment thereout of claims in respect of arrears (if any) of payment in lieu of rent or annual sums or additional sums, and so far as such redemption price will not extend by payment by the Land Commission into the Land Bond Fund of such sum as shall be necessary to complete the redemption of the said portion of such funding annuity;

(l) any sum paid by the Land Commission into the Land Bond Fund under the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section shall be recoverable by the Land Commission from the person liable to pay the same as a debt due to the State;

(m) if the Land Commission refuses to declare a sub-tenant to be the tenant of a separate holding, the funded debt in respect of the holding of such sub-tenant shall be recoverable from such sub-tenant by his immediate landlord as if it were arrears of rent due by such subtenant;

(n) the amount payable by the sub-tenant in respect of any gale of rent accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 and before the date of the order of the Land Commission deeming the sub-tenant to be tenant of a separate portion of the holding shall be 50 per cent. and no more of the full amount (as reduced in pursuance of section 23 of the Land Act, 1923 ) of such gale.

Arrears and revision of rents etc., payable to the Church Temporalities Fund.

18.—(1) Where the owner of land applies to the Land Commission in the prescribed manner for such order as is hereinafter mentioned and satisfies the Land Commission that such land—

(a) is substantially agricultural or pastoral or partly agricultural and partly pastoral in character; and

(b) is in such owner's own occupation; and

(c) is used and cultivated by such owner as an ordinary farm in accordance with proper methods of husbandry; and

(d) is subject to an annual payment to which this section applies,

the Land Commission shall ascertain the amount (if any) of the arrears of such annual payment due and owing in respect of such land on the first gale day after the passing of this Act and shall make an order declaring the amount so ascertained of such arrears or an amount equal to three times the amount of such annual payment, whichever is the less to be payable by means of a funding annuity to be set up by such order and (whether any such arrears are or are not due and owing as aforesaid) revising such annual payment by reducing by fifty per cent. the amount of all gales of such annual payment accruing after the said gale day.

(2) Whenever the Land Commission by an order made under this section declares the arrears of an annual payment to be payable by means of a funding annuity, such arrears shall be payable by means of such funding annuity and not otherwise.

(3) Whenever the Land Commission, by an order made under this section, revises an annual payment, the amount payable in respect of every gale of such annual payment accruing after the first gale day in respect of such annual payment after the passing of this Act shall be fifty per cent. and no more of the full amount of such gale.

(4) The following provisions shall have effect in respect of every funding annuity set up under this section, that is to say:—

(a) such funding annuity shall rank as a charge next in priority to the annual payment for payment of the arrears of which it is set up;

(b) such funding annuity shall, so far as circumstances will admit, be consolidated with such annual payment in accordance with regulations to be made by the Minister for Finance;

(c) such funding annuity may be redeemed at any time by payment of such sum as, in the opinion of the Minister for Finance, represents the value of all the instalments of such annuity which have not then accrued due together with all arrears of such annuity then due;

(d) the Minister for Finance may, if he thinks fit, allow such annuity to be reduced by redemption of part thereof by payment of such sum as, in his opinion, represents the value of that part of all the instalments of such annuity which have not then accrued due;

(e) all moneys received by the Land Commission in respect of instalments of such funding annuity or in respect of the redemption of such funding annuity or any part thereof shall be paid into the Church Temporalities Fund.

(5) The Land Commission shall have, for the recovery of an annual payment to which this section applies which has been revised under this section, all such remedies as they would have had for the recovery of such annual payment if this Act had not been passed.

(6) An annual payment to which this section applies which has been revised under this section may be redeemed in the like manner in all respects as it might have been redeemed if this Act had not been passed, save that the sum payable for such redemption shall be fifty per cent. and no more of the sum which would have been payable for such redemption if this Act had not been passed, and that, if a funding annuity has been set up under this section in respect of arrears of such annual payment, such annual payment shall not be capable of redemption until such funding annuity has been wholly redeemed.

(7) Whenever an application is made under this section for the revision of an annual payment which is the interest payable on a simple mortgage, the Land Commission shall, before revising such annual payment and without any application by order convert under section 26 of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1896 , such simple mortgage into an instalment mortgage, but in such case such instalment mortgage shall not be subject to decadal revision under the said section 26.

(8) Section 39 of the Land Act, 1923 , shall not apply to any annual payment which is a tithe rent-charge or fixed annual instalment in lieu of tithe rent-charge and is revised under this section.

(9) The deficiency arising in the Church Temporalities Fund by reason of the funding under this section of arrears of annual payments or the revision under this section of annual payments shall, so far as may be necessary to meet the statutory charges on that fund, be made good by the Land Commission out of moneys provided by the Oireaehtas.

(10) This section applies to all such of the following annual payments as are payable into the Church Temporalities Fund, that is to say:—

(a) a tithe rent-charge payable out of lands which are subject to a purchase annuity;

(b) fixed annual instalments in lieu of tithe rent-charge payable out of lands which are subject to a purchase annuity;

(c) a perpetuity rent;

(d) the interest on a converted leasehold mortgage;

(e) the interest on a simple mortgage;

(f) an annuity in repayment of an instalment mortgage.

Amount and revision of future purchase annuities.

19.—(1) Every advance made under the Land Purchase Acts on or after the date of the passing of this Act to a purchaser in pursuance of an agreement to purchase entered into or deemed to have been entered into by him (whether before or after the passing of this Act) shall be repayable by means of a purchase annuity of such amount as would have been payable if this Act had not been passed and such purchase annuity shall be deemed to be the first or original annuity referred to in section 5 of the Finance Act, 1923 (No. 21 of 1923).

(2) Subject to the provisions of the next following sub-section of this section, the amount payable by the purchaser in respect of each instalment of any such purchase annuity as is mentioned in the next preceding sub-section of this section (other than a purchase annuity in repayment of an advance made to an owner of land for the repurchase of such land otherwise than under section 11 of the Land Act, 1927 ) shall—

(a) in the case of a purchase annuity payable in respect of an advance to an allottee of a parcel of land which was purchased under the Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act, 1919 , or was on the 28th day of June, 1933, vested in the Land Commission under the Land Act, 1923 , or any Act amending or extending that Act, be forty-five per cent. and no more of the full amount of such instalment, and

(b) in every other case, be fifty per cent. and no more of the full amount of such instalment.

(3) The next preceding sub-section of this section shall apply to a purchase annuity notwithstanding that the holding in respect of which such annuity is payable was sold at an enhanced price owing to expenditure by the Land Commission on improvements, but the said sub-section shall not apply to an annuity payable wholly in repayment of an advance sanctioned after the 28th day of June, 1933, to a purchaser specifically for the improvement of his holding nor to so much of a purchase annuity (payable partly in repayment of such an advance) as is attributable to such advance.

(4) In this section the expression “purchase annuities” includes annual sums and additional sums payable under either section 9 or section 27 of the Land Act, 1931 .

Ascertainment and certification of amount of revised annuities.

20.—The following provisions shall have effect in relation to every purchase annuity in respect of which the amount payable by the purchaser in respect of every instalment accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 is reduced by this Part of this Act, that is to say:—

(a) as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Land Commission or the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland (as the case may require) shall ascertain, in relation to every such purchase annuity, the actual amount annually payable by the purchaser in respect of such purchase annuity in consequence of such reduction;

(b) if no funding annuity is payable in respect of arrears of such purchase annuity, the said amount annually payable as so ascertained in relation to such annuity shall be known and is in this Act referred to as the revised annuity payable in respect of the holding;

(c) if a funding annuity is payable in respect of the arrears of such purchase annuity, the aggregate of such funding annuity and the said amount annually payable as so ascertained in relation to such purchase annuity shall be ascertained by the Land Commission or the said Commissioners (as the case may require) and shall constitute and shall be known and is in this Act referred to as the revised annuity payable in respect of the holding;

(d) when the amount of a revised annuity has been ascertained in pursuance of this section, the Land Commission or the said Commissioners (as the case may require) shall where the holding is registered under the Local Registration of Title Act, 1891, or where the registration of the holding is compulsory under the said Act forthwith certify to the Registrar of Titles the amount so ascertained of such revised annuity and the said Registrar shall enter the said amount in the appropriate register kept by him and such entry shall be conclusive evidence for all purposes of the amount of such revised annuity;

(e) the Land Commission and the said Commissioners respectively shall have all such remedies for the recovery of a revised annuity as they would have had for the recovery of the purchase annuity from which such revised annuity is derived if this Act had not been passed;

(f) the said reduction in the amount payable by the purchaser in respect of instalments of a purchase annuity and the ascertainment under this section of the amount of the revised annuity derived from such purchase annuity is in this Act referred to as the revision of such purchase annuity.

Amount, duration, and recovery of funding annuities.

21.—The following provisions shall apply in respect of every funding annuity set up under this Act, that is to say:—

(a) such funding annuity shall be payable for fifty years commencing, in the case of a funding annuity in respect of arrears of an annual payment payable into the Church Temporalities Fund, on the first gale day after the passing of this Act and, in the case of every other funding annuity, on the first gale day in the year 1933, or the date on which the holding is vested in the Land Commission, whichever is the later;

(b) such funding annuity shall be of such amount, calculated in accordance with regulations made by the Minister for Finance, as will in fifty years repay, with interest at the rate of four and one-half per cent. per annum, the sum for the payment of which such annuity is set up;

(c) such funding annuity shall be a charge on the holding on which is charged the purchase annuity or out of which issues the rent, interest, or other annual payment for the payment of arrears of which such funding annuity is set up or, where such holding has been exchanged with the consent of the Land Commission for a new holding, on such new holding, and such charge shall rank next in priority after the purchase annuity, rent, interest, or other annual payment (as the case may be) charged on or issuing out of such holding;

(d) where the holding on which such funding annuity is charged is or becomes subject to a purchase annuity, such funding annuity shall be consolidated, in accordance with regulations to be made by the Minister for Finance, with such purchase annuity;

(e) such funding annuity shall be deemed to be an annuity for the repayment of moneys advanced under the Land Purchase Acts for the purchase of a holding and the Land Commission and the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall respectively have, for the recovery of unpaid instalments of such funding annuity, the like remedies (including remedies given by this Act) as they respectively have for the recovery of unpaid instalments of a purchase annuity.

Redemption of revised and funding annuities.

22.—(1) A revised annuity which does not include a funding-annuity may be redeemed, in whole or in part, in the like manner in all respects as such annuity could have been redeemed if it had not been revised under this Act, save that the sum payable for such redemption shall be reduced by the same percentage as the percentage by which such annuity was reduced on such revision.

(2) So much of a revised annuity which includes a funding annuity as represents the revised purchase annuity may be redeemed, in whole or in part, in the like manner in all respects as the said revised purchase annuity could have been redeemed if it had not been revised under this Act, save that the sum payable for such redemption shall be reduced by the same percentage as the percentage by which such purchase annuity was reduced on such revision.

(3) A funding annuity which is not included in a revised annuity or so much of a revised annuity as represents a funding annuity may be redeemed, in whole or in part, at any time by payment to the Land Commission or the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland (as the case may be) of such sum, calculated in accordance with rules to be made by the Minister for Finance, as represents the value at the time of such payment of the instalments of such funding annuity or such portion of such revised annuity then outstanding or of that part of such instalments proposed to be so redeemed.

(4) Where a revised annuity includes a funding annuity, that portion of such revised annuity which represents a purchase annuity shall not be redeemed until that portion of such revised annuity which represents such funding annuity has been wholly redeemed.

(5) All sums paid for the redemption, whether complete or partial, of a revised annuity which represents a purchase annuity arising under the Land Purchase Acts, 1891 to 1919, or of that part of a revised annuity which represents any such purchase annuity shall be paid into the Purchase Annuities Fund and shall, at such times as the Minister for Finance shall direct, be paid thereout into the Exchequer.

(6) All sums paid for the redemption, whether complete or partial, of a funding annuity or of that part of a revised annuity which represents a funding annuity shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

Costs and expenses of proceedings.

23.—(1) Where proceedings at the suit of the Land Commission or the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland were commenced after the 1st day of October, 1932, and were brought for the recovery of arrears of any purchase annuity, interest in lieu of rent, payment in lieu of rent, annual sum, additional sum, rent, interest, or other annual payment and such arrears or any part thereof are payable under this Part of this Act by means of a funding annuity, the costs and expenses of the Land Commission or the said Commissioners (as the case may be) in respect of such proceedings shall, if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas as part of the expenses of the Land Commission or the said Commissioners, as the case may be.

(2) Where a person, against whom any such proceedings as are mentioned in the foregoing sub-section of this section were brought for the recovery of any such arrears as are mentioned in that sub-section, has incurred costs and expenses in connection with such proceedings, such costs and expenses shall be refunded to such person by the Land Commission or the said Commissioners (as the case may be) out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas as part of the expenses of the Land Commission or the said Commissioners, as the case may be,

Holdings and parcels of which the Land Commission obtains possession.

24.—Where the Land Commission has obtained or hereafter obtains possession of a holding or a parcel of land on account of default in payment of the purchase annuity, interest, rent, or other annual payment payable in respect of such holding or parcel of land, such of the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act as would have been or would be applicable to such holding or parcel of land if the Land Commission had not so obtained possession thereof shall apply to such holding or parcel of land notwithstanding such obtaining of possession.

Third decadal reductions of purchase annuities.

25.—(1) Where a purchase annuity would be subject, under section 25 of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1896 , to a third decadal reduction but the third decade of such annuity did not expire before the 1st day of May, 1933, such third decade shall be deemed to have expired on the said 1st day of May, 1933, and such annuity shall be and be deemed to have been reduced under the said section 25 in accordance with regulations to be made in that behalf by the Minister for Finance.

(2) The provisions of this Part of this Act in relation to the amount payable by the purchaser in respect of instalments of a purchase annuity accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 shall apply to the reduced amount of an annuity which is reduced under this section as if such reduced amount were the full amount of such annuity.

The Guarantee Fund.

26.—(1) No deficiency in the Purchase Annuities Fund or in the Land Bond Fund arising from the revision of annuities or from reductions made by this Part of this Act in the amounts payable in respect of other annual payments shall be a charge on the Guarantee Fund.

(2) The provisions of the Land Purchase Acts in relation to the contingent portion of the Guarantee Fund shall cease to have effect on the passing of this Act.

(3) All arrears of revised purchase annuities arising under the Land Purchase Acts, 1881 to 1889, which accrue due after the passing of this Act shall be a charge on the Guarantee Fund and shall be made good to the Exchequer out of that fund.

Deficiencies in the Land Bond Fund.

27.—(1) The deficiencies in the Land Bond Fund arising from the provisions of this Part of this Act in relation to the payment of arrears of purchase annuities by means of funding annuities shall, to such extent and at such time or times as the Minister for Finance shall direct, be made good to that fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas and thereupon the charge on the Guarantee Fund in respect of those deficiencies shall cease.

(2) All deficiencies in the Land Bond Fund arising from the revision of annuities or from reductions made by this Part of this Act in the amounts payable in respect of other annual payments shall, to such extent and at such time or times as the Minister for Finance shall direct, be made good to the said fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(3) So much (if any) of every sum paid into the Land Bond Fund in respect of a revised annuity as is attributable to a funding annuity included in such revised annuity shall be paid out of the said fund into the Exchequer at such times and in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

PART IV.

Miscellaneous Amendments of the Law relating to Land Purchase.

Levy by county registrar on warrant for arrears of payments due to the Land Commission.

28.—(1) Where any person (in this section called the “defaulter”) has failed to pay money due and payable by him to the Land Commission, in respect of a purchase annuity, an annual sum equivalent to a purchase annuity, an additional sum, payment in lieu of rent, interest in lieu of rent, interest on: purchase money, rent of a holding, or rent payable under an agreement for the letting of a parcel of land for temporary convenience it shall be lawful for the Land Commission, if and when the Land Commission thinks proper, to issue to the county registrar of the county in which the lands are situate or to the county registrar of any county in which the defaulter resides or has a place of business, a warrant in the prescribed form certifying the name of the defaulter, the amount of the money so due by him as aforesaid, and (as the case may require) the residence or place of business of the defaulter or the situation and description of the lands in respect of which such money is due, and authorising such county registrar to levy, in accordance with this section the money aforesaid.

(2) A warrant issued under this section shall have the same force and effect as an execution order within the meaning of the Enforcement of Court Orders Act, 1926 (No. 18 of 1926), and shall be a sufficient authority to a county registrar to act in accordance therewith.

(3) Immediately upon receipt from the Land Commission of a warrant under this section the county registrar shall, after serving such notices and doing such acts as may be prescribed in that behalf by regulations to be made by the Minister for Justice, proceed to levy the money therein certified to be due by the defaulter in the same manner as execution orders at the suit of the Land Commission are by law leviable, and such county registrar shall, for that purpose, have all such rights, powers and duties as are for the time being vested in or imposed on him by law in relation to the execution of an execution order including such rights, powers and duties as are for the time being vested in or imposed on him by section 31 of the Land Act, 1927 .

(4) All moneys paid to or levied or otherwise received by a county registrar on account of the money mentioned in a warrant issued under this section shall be paid by him to the Land Commission.

(5) The remedies for the recovery of moneys given to the Land Commission by this section shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any other remedies which the Land Commission may have by law for the recovery of such moneys.

(6) In the application of this section in relation to a county for which there is for the time being an under-sheriff, this section shall have effect as if the word “under-sheriff” were substituted for the expression “county registrar” throughout this section.

Relief of congestion.

29.—(1) Sub-section (4) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , is hereby repealed and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that when the Land Commission declare that any land (in this section referred to as the declared land) coming within clause (a) of sub-section (2) of the said section 24 is required for the purpose of relieving congestion, and the tenant or proprietor of the declared land or the wife or the husband of such tenant or proprietor resides on or in the immediate neighbourhood of the declared land and uses it in the same manner as an ordinary farmer in accordance with the proper methods of husbandry, then, if such tenant or proprietor is not the owner of land (other than the declared land) the market value of which exceeds the sum of £2,000, the Land Commission shall, if within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner such tenant or proprietor requires them to declare and acquire his entire land and to provide him with a new holding, provide such tenant or proprietor with a new holding which the Lay Commissioners consider to be suitable for such tenant or proprietor and also consider (subject to a right of appeal to the Appeal Tribunal, whose decision shall be final) to be of not less market value than the declared land or of not less market value than £2,000 (whichever shall be the lesser sum).

(2) Where the Land Commission provides such tenant or proprietor with a new holding under the next preceding sub-section the balance of the purchase money of the declared land over and above the market value of such new holding shall be payable in land bonds.

(3) The provisions of the Land Act, 1923 , and the Acts amending or extending that Act in relation to the transfer of burdens and rights on the exchange of holdings by agreement shall extend to any exchange of lands effected under the preceding sub-section of this section.

(4) Sub-section (5) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , is hereby repealed.

(5) The Land Commission may publish in the prescribed manner a notice of intention to declare that lands are required for the relief of congestion, and the publication of such notice shall be in lieu of and in substitution for the publication of a provisional list of the lands pursuant to section 40 of the Land Act, 1923 .

(6) The power of the Land Commission under sub-section (3) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , to declare that any land therein referred to is required for the relief of congestion shall be exercised and performed by the Lay Commissioners and their decision shall be final subject to an appeal to the Appeal Tribunal on any question of law or of value, and the decision of the Appeal Tribunal on any such question of value shall be final.

(7) The Land Commission shall not be precluded from declaring lands to be required for the relief of congestion by reason only of the fact that proceedings for a declaration begun prior to the passing of this Act are pending or have been, prior to the passing of this Act, dismissed or discontinued.

Power to the Land Commission in certain cases to declare the appointed day for untenanted land before the price is fixed.

30.—(1) Where a provisional list of untenanted lands or a notice under this Part of this Act of intention to declare that lands are required for relief of congestion has been published and no objection thereto has been lodged or if lodged has been finally disposed of, the Land Commission may, if they consider it expedient so to do for the purpose of the immediate distribution of such lands by order declare the appointed day for such lands notwithstanding that the price has not been agreed upon or fixed, and by the same order declare the price (in this section called the provisional price) at which it is proposed to purchase such lands.

(2) In default of agreement, the price of lands in respect of which the appointed day has been declared under the foregoing sub-section of this section shall be fixed by reference to the value thereof as on the appointed day in accordance with the provisions of the Land Purchase Acts in that behalf.

(3) If the price of lands in respect of which the appointed day has been declared under this section exceeds the provisional price, the Land Commission shall make an additional advance and issue additional land bonds for the purchase of such lands and there shall be payable by the Land Commission to the person entitled to the receipt of the rents and profits of such land before the purchase thereof a sum equal to interest (less income tax) on the additional land bonds so issued from the appointed day to the date of the issue of such additional land bonds.

(4) If the price of lands in respect of which the appointed day has been declared under this section is less than the provisional price, the Land Commission shall pay into the Land Bond Fund such sum as will be sufficient to redeem the land bonds issued in excess of the price of such lands and shall be entitled to recover the amount so paid into the Land Bond Fund, together with the interest paid on the bonds so redeemed from the appointed day to the date on which such bonds are redeemed, out of the purchase money of such lands so far as it shall not have been distributed on allocation, or from such person as shall have received such purchase money or any part thereof and shall be found liable to make such repayments.

(5) Notwithstanding anything in section 36 of the Land Act, 1931 , interest on land bonds advanced as the price of untenanted lands for which a provisional price has been declared under this section shall be paid to the person appearing to the Land Commission to be the owner of the lands prior to the purchase, but the Judicial Commissioner may, on the application of any interested person, direct that such interest or any part thereof shall be paid to such interested person.

Resumption of holdings.

31.—(1) Where the Land Commission propose to exercise their powers of resumption of a holding in whole or in part they shall give notice in the prescribed manner to the person appearing to be in occupation of the holding as tenant of their intention to resume the holding in whole or in part unless within the prescribed time a petition is presented to the Land Commission praying that the holding or the part thereof (as the case may be) be not resumed without further inquiry.

(2) If any such petition as aforesaid is presented, questions arising under it shall be considered and determined by the Lay Commissioners whose determination shall be final subject only to an appeal to the Appeal Tribunal on a question of law.

(3) If no such petition as aforesaid is presented, or if any such petition is presented and refused, the Lay Commissioners may certify that the holding or part thereof is required by the Land Commission in exercise of their powers of resumption and the court shall, upon the application of the Land Commission, authorise the resumption of the holding in whole or in part, as so certified to be required, and where the Lay Commissioners also certify that it is expedient that the holding should be available for immediate distribution, the court shall thereupon authorise the Land Commission to enter into possession of the holding, notwithstanding that the resumption price may not have been fixed, and in that case on the resumption price being fixed there shall be payable by the Land Commission to the person entitled thereto, interest on the resumption price at the rate per annum at which interest is payable on the issue of land bonds made in payment of the resumption price from the date on which the Land Commission went into possession of the holding to the date of the issue of the land bonds in payment of the resumption price.

Extension of the powers of the Land Commission to acquire land compulsorily.

32.—(1) Where the Lay Commissioners certify, before the appointed day, that any land is required for the purpose of resale to the persons or bodies mentioned in section 31 of the Land Act, 1923 , as extended by this Act the Land Commission shall have and may exercise in respect of such lands all or any of the powers that they have in relation to acquiring lands for the relief of congestion.

(2) Where the circumstances of any land are such that if such land were acquired by the Land Commission the tenant or proprietor of such land would be entitled under this Act to require the Land Commission to provide him with a new holding, the Land Commission shall, notwithstanding anything contained in this section or in any other enactment, not acquire such land compulsorily for any purpose other than the relief of congestion or the provision of sports fields, parks, pleasure-grounds, or play-grounds, for the inhabitants of villages, towns, or cities or for schools or the provision of gardens for schools.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section or in any other enactment, the Land Commission shall not acquire compulsorily for any purpose other than the relief of congestion in the same locality or the provision of sports fields, parks, pleasure-grounds, or play-grounds, for the inhabitants of villages, towns, or cities or for schools, or the provision of gardens for schools any land in respect of which the Lay Commissioners are satisfied that, having regard to the area, situation, and character of such land, the amount of congestion and unemployment existing in the district in which such land is situate and the country generally, and the desirability of increasing the production of food supplies, such land is producing an adequate amount of agricultural products and is providing an adequate amount of employment, reckoning in such employment any relatives of the tenant or proprietor of such land permanently employed on such land.

(4) A certificate given under this section shall be final, subject to an appeal to the Appeal Tribunal on any question of law or of value and the decision of the Appeal Tribunal on any such question of value shall be final.

Advance to trustees for certain purposes.

33.—(1) The provisions of sections 4 and 20 of the Irish Land Act, 1903 , and section 18 of the Irish Land Act, 1909 , as extended by section 69 of the Land Act, 1923 shall be and are hereby further extended so as to include the provision of sports fields, parks, pleasure-grounds and playgrounds for the inhabitants of villages, towns or cities, or for schools and the provision of gardens for schools amongst the purposes for which advances may be made under those sections, and schemes may be framed or amended under the said sections for or so as to include all or any of those purposes.

(2) The trustees mentioned in paragraph (e) of sub-section (1) of section 31 of the Land Act, 1923 , shall include trustees for all or any of the purposes mentioned in the foregoing sub-section of this section.

Power of Land purchase sporting rights in certain cases.

34.—Where lands have been vested in a purchaser under any Land Purchase Act prior to the Land Act, 1923 , and the sporting rights (other than fishing rights) on or over such lands were not so vested, the Land Commission may, if of the opinion that it would be for the benefit of the country that such rights should be acquired and that they should be vested in the proprietors of the lands on or over which they are exercised, as an appurtenance to such lands, and if such proprietors are willing to purchase such rights, make an order declaring the appointed day in respect of all such rights and vesting the same in the Land Commission at a price, payable in land bonds, to be fixed (in default of agreement) by the Lay Commissioners subject to a right of appeal to the Appeal Tribunal.

Amendment of section 24 of the Land Act, 1927.

35.— Section 24 of the Land Act, 1927 , shall, in its application to proceedings in which the Land Commission have withdrawn from the purchase or resumption of lands prior to the passing of this Act, have effect as if all the words from the words “where the Land Commission have withdrawn” to the end of the section were deleted.

Amendment of section 24 (2) (b) and (g) of the Land Act, 1923.

36.—(1) Clause (b) and (g) of sub-section (2) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , shall be and are hereby amended by substituting therein for the date of the passing of that Act as the date upon which the character of the holding is to be determined—

(a) for and during the period of five years from the date of the passing of this Act, the date of the passing of this Act, and

(b) for and during every successive period of five years from that date, the date on which such period shall commence.

(2) Where sub-section (1) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , has become or hereafter becomes applicable to any land by virtue of the amendment of that section made by this section, such application of the said sub-section to such land shall not be prejudiced or prevented merely by reason of a previous determination that the said sub-section did not apply to such land.

Annuities on submerged lands.

37.—(1) Where part of a holding charged with an advance under the Land Purchase Acts is permanently submerged owing to coast or other erosion or other cause not arising from the fault or neglect of the tenant, the Land Commission may make an order apportioning the land purchase annuity or annual sum as between the part submerged and the part not submerged, and thereafter the purchaser or tenant shall be liable only for the portion of the land purchase annuity or annual sum on the part not submerged and, if the Minister for Finance so directs, the balance of such annuity or annual sum shall be written off as irrecoverable.

(2) Where the whole of a holding charged with an advance under the Land Purchase Acts is permanently submerged owing to coast or other erosion or other cause not arising from the fault or neglect of the tenant, the land purchase annuity or annual sum charged thereon shall, if the Minister for Finance so directs, be written off as irrecoverable.

(3) Arrears of annuities or annual sums or portions thereof written off under this section as irrecoverable shall not be a charge on the Guarantee Fund.

(4) All deficiencies in the Land Bond Fund arising under this section shall be made good to that fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas at such times and in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

(5) This section shall not apply where compensation in respect of the submergence of the holding is payable under any Act of the Oireachtas whether passed before or after this Act.

(6) Land which is as a result of coast erosion periodically covered by tidal water or is by reason of the permanent or occasional incursion thereon of water, sand or other substance (whether liquid or solid) incapable of being cultivated or used for purposes of agriculture or pasture shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be permanently submerged owing to coast crosion

Power to the Land Commission in certain cases to reduce the standard purchase annuity of a holding.

38.—(1) Where, in the case of a holding included in a list of vested holdings published under section 9 of the Land Act, 1931 , the Land Commission is not satisfied that the holding was on the 9th day of August, 1923 security for the standard purchase annuity, whether agreed upon between the landlord and the tenant or fixed in accordance with the First Schedule to the Land Act, 1923 or section 2 of the Land Act, 1929 , the Land Commission may before the holding is vested in the purchasing tenant or resumed by the Land Commission, as the case may be, fix the standard purchase annuity for the holding in the manner provided by Part II of the First Schedule to the Land Act, 1923 , in respect of cases in which there is no agreement between the landlord and the tenant, and may make an order reducing the standard purchase annuity accordingly.

(2) The provisions of the Land Act, 1931 , consequential on the making of an order reducing the standard purchase annuity of a holding shall apply to an order made under this section.

Mill holdings.

39.—(1) A holding shall not be excluded from the provisions of the Land Act, 1923 , and of the Acts amending and extending that Act, in virtue of which lands are vested in the Land Commission as tenanted lands on the appointed day, by reason only of the fact that there is a mill building upon such holding if, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, the Land Commission consider that the holding is substantially agricultural or pastoral or partly agricultural and partly pastoral.

(2) No person shall be precluded from making an application to the Land Commission for an order declaring the appointed day for any such holding as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section of this section by reason only that the holding had been, prior to the passing of this Act, excluded from the said provisions of the said Acts on the ground that it was a mill holding.

Holdings let for a special purpose.

40.—(1) A holding shall not be excluded from the provisions of the Land Act, 1923 , and of the Acts amending and extending that Act, in virtue of which lands are vested in the Land Commission as tenanted lands on the appointed day, by reason only of the fact that such holding is held under a contract of tenancy expressed to be made for temporary depasturage, temporary convenience, or to meet a temporary necessity if the Land Commission, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, is of opinion that such tenancy was not in fact intended for temporary depasturage or that there was in fact no temporary convenience or temporary necessity to be served in the making of such contract of tenancy or that such holding is used as an ordinary farm and in any case is of opinion that such holding should be deemed to be a holding to which the said provisions of the said Acts apply.

(2) No person shall be precluded from making an application to the Land Commission for an order declaring the appointed day for any such holding as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section of this section by reason only that the holding had been, prior to the passing of this Act, excluded from the said provisions of the said Acts on the ground that it was held under a letting for temporary depasturage or to meet a temporary convenience or a temporary necessity.

(3) A provision contained in any such contract of tenancy (whenever made) as is mentioned in the first sub-section of this section or in a contract of tenancy (whenever made) the main object of which was for a residence and purporting directly or indirectly to preclude the tenant under such contract from exercising rights under the Land Purchase Acts or any particular such right shall be and, if such contract was made before the passing of this Act, be deemed always to have been void and unenforceable.

Previous advances made to the husband or wife of a tenant to be considered.

41.—In considering, pursuant to sub-section (6) of section 28 of the Land Act, 1923 , or section 33 of that Act or section 11 of the Land Act, 1931 , the amount of the advances made under the Land Purchase Acts for the purchase of lands of which the tenant of a holding, to which the Land Act, 1923 , and the Acts amending and extending that Act apply, is the proprietor on the appointed day, advances made for the purchase of lands of which the husband or the wife (as the case may be) of such tenant is the proprietor shall be deemed to have been made to such tenant.

Untenanted land held under fee farm grant or long lease.

42.—(1) Paragraph (c) of sub-section (1) of section 44 of the Land Act, 1931 , is hereby repealed.

(2) When an application under the said section 44 is granted, the provisions relating to tenanted land contained in section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , and the like provisions in the Acts amending and extending the said section shall apply to the parcel of land in relation to which the application has been granted.

(3) An application under the said section 44 shall not be granted in any case where the parcel of land to which such application relates would have been excepted from the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , had it been tenanted land within the meaning of sub-section (2) of section 73 of the said Act.

(4) In any application under the said section 44 , where the rent actually paid by the applicant is not the same as the rent reserved by the grant or lease under which the pared of land to which such application relates is held and the Land Commission is of opinion, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, that the rent actually paid by the applicant has been paid and accepted in substitution for the rent reserved by such grant or lease, the rent so actually paid shall be deemed to be the rent of such parcel of land for the purposes of such application.

(5) When the Land Commission is not satisfied that a parcel of land, in respect of which an application under the said section 44 is granted, is security for the standard purchase annuity, whether agreed upon between the landlord and the tenant or fixed under section 2 of the Land Act, 1929 , the Land Commission, on serving notice on the parties in the prescribed manner, may make an order fixing the standard purchase annuity of such parcel in the manner provided by Part II of the First Schedule to the Land Act, 1923 , in respect of cases in which there is no agreement between the landlord and the tenant.

(6) In fixing the standard purchase annuity of a parcel of land in respect of which an application under the said section 44 is granted, the Land Commission may have regard to the amount (if any) in money or money's worth paid or given by way of fine or otherwise by the grantee or lessee to the grantor or lessor on and for the making of the grant or lease under which such parcel of land is held.

(7) Paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of sub-section (3) of the said section 44 are hereby amended by substituting for the first gale day of the year 1928, such gale day prior to the date of the lodgment of the application under that section as will permit three years' arrears and will not permit more than three years' arrears or rent to be compounded under the said sub-section.

(8) Where the Land Commission make an order under the said section 44 that a parcel of land shall vest on the appointed day, they may by the same order declare the appointed day and fix the standard purchase annuity for such parcel.

(9) No person shall be precluded from making an application to the Land Commission under the said section 44 by reason only that an order had been made refusing a previous application under the said section in relation to the same parcel of land before the passing of this Act and in any such case such application may be made notwithstanding that the grant or lease under which such parcel of land was held at the date of such order was subsequently terminated on account or in consequence of non-payment of the rent reserved thereby, and in such case such grant or lease shall, for the purposes of the said section 44 and such application, be deemed to be subsisting.

(10) Section 38 of the Land Act, 1923 , is hereby repealed without prejudice to the continuance, completion, and validity of proceedings under that section which are pending at the passing of this Act.

(11) Where, in any proceedings under the said section 44, the owner of the parcel of land to which such proceedings relate is dead and there is no legal personal representative of such deceased owner, or the services of his legal personal representative are not conveniently available for the said proceedings, the Land Commission may, on such terms and conditions (if any) as they may think fit, appoint some proper person to be administrator of the personal estate of such deceased owner limited to the said proceedings, and thereupon such limited administrator shall, for the purposes of the said proceedings, represent such deceased owner in the same manner as if such owner had died intestate and letters of administration of his personal estate and effects had been duly granted to the said limited administrator.

Compounded arrears of rents charged on holdings which are sub-let.

43.—Where an additional annuity in repayment of compounded arrears of rent has been charged on a holding which is wholly or partially sub-let and the sub-tenants have been declared to be direct tenants of their respective portions of the holding, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) each such sub-tenant shall be entitled to credit for so much of the said compounded arrears of rent as is repayable by the portion of the said additional annuity charged on his separate holding as against the arrears of rent, if any, due and payable by him to his immediate landlord;

(b) if there are no arrears of rent due by such sub-tenant or if the amount of the compounded arrears of rent so repayable as aforesaid exceeds the amount of the arrears of rent due by such sub-tenant, the portion of such additional annuity charged on his separate holding or so much of the said portion of the said additional annuity as represents the excess of the said compounded arrears of rent over the arrears of rent due by such sub-tenant (as the case may be) shall be redeemed out of the intervening interest of his immediate landlord so far as the redemption price of such intervening interest, after discharging claims in respect of unpaid instalments of payment in lieu of rent or annual sums or additional sums (if any), is sufficient and, to the extent that such intervening interest is not so sufficient, out of the sum added to the purchase money of the holding for compounded arrears of rent;

(c) where any portion of the said additional annuity is redeemed out of the sum added to the purchase money of the holding for compounded arrears of rent, the person entitled to receive the said compounded arrears of rent shall be entitled to receive and recover from, the person by whom the said compounded arrears of rent would have been payable if they had not been added to the purchase money such sum as shall have been paid out of the said compounded arrears of rent in redemption in whole or in part of the said additional annuity.

Expenditure on embankments not exceeding £500.

44.—Where the total expenditure proposed to be made by the Land Commission in or towards the reconstruction of any work under sub-section (5) of section 44 of the Land Act, 1923 , does not exceed the sum of five hundred pounds, the Land Commission may make such expenditure at their discretion, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, as part of the expenses of the Land Commission, and the provisions of the said sub-section in relation to expenditure thereunder shall apply to such expenditure under this section.

Amendment of section 73 (2) (b) of the Land Act, 1923 .

45.—Sub-section (2) of section 73 of the Land Act, 1923 , is hereby amended by the deletion of paragraph (b) of the said sub-section and the insertion in the said sub-section of the following paragraph in lieu of the paragraph so deleted, and the said section shall be construed and have effect accordingly, that is to say:—

“(b) if the holding is situate in a non-congested districts county, and the Land Commission certify that the creation of the tenancy was in the interests of the country, the holding shall vest in the Land Commission as tenanted land, but if the Band Commission do not so certify, the holding shall not be vested in the Land Commission unless they deem it expedient that it should vest as untenanted land, whereupon it stall so vest and the price shall be ascertained as if the holding were untenanted land.”

Provisions relating to tenanted land suitable for building.

46.—(1) Where any tenanted lands have been excepted from the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , as amended and extended by the Land Acts subsequent thereto, by reason or on account of their potential or actual value or utility as building ground, and have not been resumed and utilised for building purposes before the 28th day of June, 1933, the provisions of the said Act as so amended and extended (other than the provisions relating to tenanted land having potential or actual value or utility as building ground) shall apply to such tenanted land as on and from the 28th day of June, 1933.

(2) Where the tenancy in any lands which have been excepted as aforesaid has, before the 28th day of June, 1933, been determined by the landlord and the tenant has been reinstated therein under a new tenancy agreement such tenant shall, where the lands have not been utilised for building purposes by the landlord before the said date be deemed to be tenant thereof under his former tenancy.

(3) Tenanted land which was not excepted as aforesaid before the 28th day of June, 1933, shall not be so excepted after that day by reason or on account of its potential or actual value as building ground.

(4) This section shall not apply to any tenanted land owned by a local authority otherwise than for the purposes of their power and duties as such.

Extension of power to acquire bogs.

47.—(1) The powers of the Land Commission to acquire any bog for the purpose of providing turbary for the occupiers of land shall be and are hereby extended so as to include the acquisition of bog for the purpose of the development thereof for such other purposes as the Minister for Industry and Commerce, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, shall approve.

(2) In the exercise by the Land Commission of the extended powers conferred by this section due regard shall be had to the reasonable requirements of the occupiers of land in the neighbourhood in respect of turf for consumption as fuel in their own houses and not for sale.

Registration of holdings on vesting.

48.—(1) Every holding vested in the tenant thereof by vesting order or by fiat of the purchase agreement entered into by him for the purchase thereof shall be deemed to be registered land within the meaning of sub-section (1) of section 19 of the Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Act, 1891, and shall be subject to the provisions of that Act as on and from the date of such vesting order or fiat, and every such holding shall as on and from the said date be exempt from the provisions of the Acts relating to the Registry of Deeds.

(2) The foregoing provisions shall apply to a parcel of land sold to an allottee as if such parcel were a holding sold to the tenant thereof.

Tithe rentcharge or variable rent in Dublin.

49.—(1) The following provisions shall apply to and have effect in respect of every tithe rentcharge or variable rent issuing out of a hereditament which is, at the passing of this Act, situate within the county borough of Dublin, that is to say:—

(a) where a tithe rentcharge or a variable rent to which these provisions apply has in fact been varied under and in accordance with sections 2 and 3 of the Tithe Rent charge (Ireland) Act, 1900, or those sections as applied by section 90 of the Irish Land Act, 1903 , and also under and in accordance with section 49 of the Land Act, 1931 , the said sections 2 and 3 and the said section 49 shall apply and be deemed always to have applied to such tithe rentcharge or such variable rent accordingly;

(b) where a tithe rentcharge or a variable rent to which these provisions apply has not been so varied as aforesaid, section 49 of the Land Act, 1931 shall apply to such tithe rentcharge or such variable rent but with and subject to the following modifications, that is to say:—

(i) the 1st day of November, 1933 shall be substituted for the 1st day of November, 1930, wherever it occurs, and

(ii) the 2nd day of November, 1933 shall be substituted for the 2nd day of November, 1930; and

(iii) sixty-two per cent. shall be substituted for ninety-two per cent.

(2) In this section the expressions “tithe rentcharge” and “variable rent” have the same meanings respectively as they have in section 49 of the Land Act, 1931 .

Power to appoint trustees.

50.—(1) The Judicial Commissioner shall have power, if it appears convenient for the allocation of any fund in the Court of the Irish Land Commission, to appoint trustees for the purposes of the Settled Land Acts, 1882 to 1890, of any settlement, or of any number of instruments together forming a compound settlement, to receive upon the trusts of such settlement or compound settlement any such fund or any part thereof where there is any subsisting charge arising under such settlement or compound settlement, whether secured or not secured by a term of years, notwithstanding that the fee and inheritance have vested absolutely, and where such trustees are so appointed the receipt of such trustees shall be a sufficient discharge to the Land Commission in relation to such fund or part thereof.

(2) For the purposes of this section lands vested in the Irish Land Commission on the appointed day, or the purchase money thereof, or any rent, or the redemption price thereof, or any other fund to be distributed by the Judicial Commissioner may be deemed to be held by way of succession under a settlement or a compound settlement notwithstanding that the provisions of the particular instrument under which any such charge arises, may have determined save as regards such charges.

(3) There shall be no appeal from a decision of the Judicial Commissioner under this section.

Payment of fines for renewal of leases, on allocation.

51.—Where, on the allocation of any fund distributable by the Court under the Land Purchase Acts, the rent and renewal fines payable out of lands held under lease for lives or for years with a covenant for perpetual renewal upon payment of a fine, are redeemed, in whole or in part, and ordered to be paid out of such fund, no fine which became payable more than twenty-two years before the date of such allocation nor more than three fines in all shall be taken into consideration in assessing the value of the fines to be so redeemed, and in no such case shall the total sum payable in redemption of such fines exceed 10 per cent. of the redemption price of the rent payable under the said lease.

Distribution of small shares of purchase moneys, etc.

52.—The provisions of section 63 of the Irish Land Act, 1903 , and of section 35 of the Land Act, 1931 , shall apply to any share in the redemption price or in the residue of the redemption price of a superior interest, or in the purchase money or the residue of the purchase money of an estate, or in any fund or the residue of any fund which is distributable by the court where the amount of such share—

(a) does not exceed thirty pounds; or

(b) exceeds thirty pounds and does not exceed one hundred pounds,

in like manner as those sections apply to redemption prices of superior interests, purchase moneys of estates, and funds distributable by the court, or to residues of such redemption prices, purchase moneys or funds not exceeding thirty pounds and exceeding thirty pounds and not exceeding one hundred pounds respectively.

Deduction from purchase money of debts due to the State.

53.—(1) The Land Commission when distributing the purchase money of an estate shall deduct from the amount of the purchase money payable to any person who is not resident in Saorstát Eireann any debt due or payable by such person to any Minister or Government Department of which the Land Commission has received notice before the making of payment to such person.

(2) When the amount of any such debt has not been ascertained the Land Commission shall retain such sum as the Minister or Government Department requires out of the amount of the purchase money to which the person by whom such debt is due or payable is entitled until he has delivered the necessary accounts or made the necessary returns to enable the Minister or Department to whom or to which such debt is due to determine its exact amount and such exact amount has been determined.

Guarantee deposits.

54.—(1) When the purchase money of an estate is distributed before the vesting orders in respect of all the holdings comprised in such estate have been made, the Judicial Commissioner shall retain in land bonds out of the purchase money as a guarantee deposit a sum equal to ten per cent. of the purchase money, or such greater sum as the Judicial Commissioner shall think proper but not exceeding in any case twenty-five per cent. of the purchase money unless, on the distribution of such purchase money, the Land Commission certify that no retainer or only a retainer less than ten per cent; of the purchase money need be made.

(2) Sub-section (1) of section 21 of the Land Act, 1931 , is hereby repealed.