32 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



(7) Trustees' Investments 



The Act has given to the limited owner another inducement to 

 sell. If a sale were effected before the Act was passed, the money 

 had to be invested in securities authorised by the Trust Acts. 

 These securities gave in every case a very small return. The 

 result was that the interest on the purchase money was less than 

 the rental, and the landlord suffered. The framers of the Act, in 

 their desire to secure the transference of property from landlord to 

 tenant, endeavoured to obviate this difficulty. The method they 

 adopted was to sanction better paying investments for trust 

 money. The landlord may now be able to sell with the hope of 

 investing the purchase money in securities that will bring him 

 4 per cent,, which compares favourably with the return from 

 his estate. 



(8) Legal Expenses 



In the early days of land purchase the cost of transferring 

 land was serious. When the 1870 Act was passed, the owner 

 had to pay £200 as the cost of shewing title to a farm of 

 £2000. The lowest fee for passing a property through the 

 Landed Estates Court was £100. This did not include the legal 

 expenses outside the Court. The Land Commission under the 

 1903 Act may make whatever investigations are necessary in 

 regard to title, including Searches in the different Eegisters, with- 

 out charge, and it may also distribute the money among the 

 parties entitled thereto, without charge. In fact, it has relieved 

 the seller of much of the legal expenses in connection with the 

 sale of his property. 



Results of Land Purchase 



These inducements given to the landlord have not been given 

 in vain. The 1903 Act, considering that it has only been in 

 operation since 1st November of that year, has out-distanced all 

 other Land - Purchase Acts in the rapidity with which it has 

 changed the tenant farmer of Ireland into an occupying owner. 

 It has been the most successful Land-Purchase Act, if success 

 is to be measured by the money advanced for purchase purposes. 

 The following figures speak for themselves. They represent the 

 amount of loans issued under the various Acts, none of which 

 is entirely repealed, from 1885 to 31st January 1906 : — 



1. Land Acts, 1885 and 1888 . £9,992,536 



2. Land Acts, 1891-1896 . . £13,122,130 



3. Land Act, 1903 . . . £9,242,650 



Lessons for Land Reformers 



Irish history has been full of struggle and storm. The unrest 

 has powerfully affected the land question, and made comparison 



