THE AGRARIAN REFORM OF 1903. 109 



estimating the value of a farm they took more 

 account of factors not strictly agricultural than 

 was the case later on, when they were disposed 

 to fix fair rents on the basis of the agricultural 

 productivity of the holding.^ In the main it 

 may be said that they did not solve the 

 economic problems which the legislature had 

 set them, and they even ignored certain regula- 

 tions about which there was no doubt. Thus, 

 the Commissioners frequently took account of 

 an ' Occupation Interest,' i.e. the right of an 

 existing tenant to hold at a lower rent than 

 could be accorded to a new tenant. This 

 occupation interest, which had no foundation 

 in law, was allowed for up to 15 per cent, of the 

 rent.^ Thus no really just division of surplus 

 took place between landlord and tenant. The 

 capital value of an Irish farm is represented by 

 the land, which is the property of the landlord, 

 and the improvements, which belong to the 

 tenant. In reckoning the net profits, the sum 

 taken to start with was the amount realizable by 

 the sale of the products. This gross profit was 

 naturally diminished by the fall in prices. The 

 whole loss of this fall was frequently laid upon 

 the landlord. The interest on that part of the 

 capital represented b}' the soil was lowered ; the 

 interest on the improvements remained the same. 

 The first judicial reduction brought down the 



^ Fry Commission, p. 18. 

 2 lb., p. 21. 



