30 REPORT OP THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



(2) Purchase Price 



Payment of the purchase price is now made in cash, not in 

 land stock. When land stock was selling at £114, and the land- 

 lord was debited with it at £100, this was an inducement for him 

 to sell. When land stock fell to £85, the inducement disappeared 

 and land sales stopped. In order to obviate difficulties of this 

 kind, and to free the landlord of all risks, the 1903 Act stipulates 

 that payment is to be made in cash. 



(3) Deposit 



The Government decided in 1885 to advance to tenant pur- 

 chasers the whole of the purchase money. Two conditions were 

 imposed. The Land Commission had to be satisfied with the 

 security, and one-fifth of the price had to lie with the Land Com- 

 mission as a guarantee deposit. We have already seen that, in 

 cases within the zones, the Land Commission do not now need to 

 be satisfied with the security before advancing the whole purchase 

 money. They advance the money without considering the security. 

 The Land Act of 1896 gave power to the Land Commission to 

 dispense witii the guarantee deposit. The 1903 Act goes farther. 

 It leaves the Land Commission no option. The deposit is simply 

 dispensed with. The landlord now gets payment at once of the 

 whole purchase money. 



(4) Demesne 



One of the difficulties of land purchase in Ireland has been 

 demesne lands, particularly in connection with mortgaged estates. 

 A landlord might sell the holdings on his estate and be left with 

 the residential part of it, without any prospect of getting it dis- 

 posed of. Under the 1903 Act, the Land Commission may agree 

 to buy from any proprietor who sells his holdings any demesne or 

 other lands in his occupation. This puts the landlord in possession 

 of a considerable sum of money, which is an inducement, as the 

 Act meant it to be, to a poor man to sell his estate. But, further, 

 he is allowed to buy back his demesne lands, as if he were a pur- 

 chasing tenant, by paying 3^ per cent, for 68| years, provided the 

 price does not exceed one-third of the purchase money of the 

 estate, or £20,000. 



(5) Bonus 



Much of the land in Ireland, as we have already said, is 

 entailed. Hitherto, there has been no inducement to the life- 

 owner to sell. To sell might have been beneficial to the estate 

 ultimately. It was not so, generally, to the life-owner. In order 

 to get out of this difficulty, the Government provided £12,000,000 

 of money, not by way of loan, hut as a gift to landlords, in which 

 an owner for life could participate. But this bonus is only given 



