140 THE IRISH AGRARIAN 1'UOllLKM. 



though a minority of the tenants is against it. 

 The value of unsold land in the hands of the 

 Commission must never exceed ,5,000,000. The 



nsaction is to be carried out without I 

 except in the case of congested estates, where 

 resale at a loss is permitted. 1 



Thus for the tenant the new Act implies a 

 lessening of his obligations by 10 to 40 per cent., 

 or to speak in his own language, a reduction of 

 rent by from 2s. to 8s. in the . The A 

 amounts simply and solely to this, that the Irish 

 tenant can become owner of his holding by pay- 

 ing for 68^- years on an average 15 per cent, less 

 than a present-day (1905) judicial rent would 

 amount to. 2 



But whether the Irish tenant can take this bait 

 or not depends partly on what inducements are 

 offered to his landlord. The landlord receives 

 for every ,100 of rent a principal sum of ^1850- 

 2460, or 2150-2770, according to whether the 

 rent is a first- or second-term one. Let us assume 

 that he gets ,2,000. That gives in trustee securi- 

 ties at 3^- per cent, an income of ^65. He is 



1 It is possible to effect a sale outside the zones, but then 

 come in all the arrangements involving delay, which the zone 

 system was devised to get rid of. 



2 A present-day rent would be a second-term rent, and the 

 reduction on it would therefore be 10 to 30, or say 15 per cent. 

 A rent of^ioo therefore falls to ,85. This ^85 contains 

 interest and sinking fund, about T a j or sa X <'3> being 

 reckoned to sinking fund. The actual rent therefore is re- 

 duced from 100 to 72, or by 28 per cent. 



