THE FAIR RENT PROVISIONS OF THE IRISH LAND ACTS I25 



On examining this table we can see that the rate of reduction has in 

 some cases followed (inversely, of course) the rise and fall of prices. The fall 

 in the prices of wheat, beef and mutton in the period 1887-91 as compared 

 with the previous five years is marked by an increase in the rate of 

 reduction of first term rents from 18.2 % to 24 %. The variations in 

 prices during the next two quinquennial periods hardly seem by themselves 

 sufiicient to justify the drop in the rate of reduction from 24 % to 22.7 %. 

 in the first and to 20.2 % in the second of these periods. The next period 

 1902-6 is marked by an all-round increase in prices, and the rate of reduc- 

 tion in rents falls from 20.2 % to 16.8 %, but then the further rise in all 

 products save mutton during the period 1907-11 did not, as would naturally 

 be expected, bring about a further drop in the rate of reduction. On the 

 contrary the rate of reduction in the case of first term rents springs up by 

 over 5 %. The explanation of this is partly the increase in the cost of 

 labour during that period, and partly that tenants who waited for 26 

 years before coming into Court to have a fair rent fixed were evidently 

 not suffering from rack rents. Moreover the figures as to fair rents since 

 1903 are misleading, as a number of fair rents were fixed after the passing 

 of the Purchase Act of 1903, which probably would have never been fixed 

 but for the zonal clauses of that Act, which only apply to judicial rents. 

 Landlords who were anxious to sell their estates, and to take advantage of 

 these clauses, arranged to have fair rents fixed on their tenants' holding, 

 either by agreement or by the Land Commission, and as the sale of the estate 

 was the landlord's real object, he often raised no objection to a reduction of 

 rent which he would have fought against had his intention been to continue 

 receiving rent from the tenants for any length of time. 



This table shows how difiicult it would be to trace the analogy between 

 prices and rents without knowing all the factors which enter into the pro- 

 blem. But it must not be imagined therefore that prices can be neglected 

 in the process of fixing fair rents. As already stated they are a most im- 

 portant factor in the question. In practice an Assistant Commissioner 

 who values a holding for fair rent purposes makes several distinct investi- 

 gations. In the first place he examines the actual constituents and charac- 

 ter of the soil, and deduces therefrom what the produce might be under 

 the most favourable circumstances. Secondly he estimates what, having 

 regard to the state of ctdtivation and the capital sunk in the holding, the 

 produce actually is. Thirdly he has to calculate the value of that produce. 

 To do so he must have full information as to the prices which the various 

 products have obtained in that particular district, and he has further to 

 consider to the best of his ability whether those prices are likely to remain 

 constant during the 15 years which must elapse before the next revision of 

 the rent can take place. To make such a forecast with any reasonable pro- 

 spect of accuracy requires a careful enquiry into the prices which have 

 been obtained for a number of past years, and into the causes of their varia- 

 tions — whether they are merely of a temporary nature, or of such a perman- 

 ent character as to be likely to affect prices in the future. Fourtlily the 

 valuer must take the cost of labour into consideration, and this is perhaps 



