384 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



over the land, have no longer any, but only upon the pur- 

 chase-money. The Commission is charged with exami- 

 nation into the validity of these claims, and with the dis- 

 tribution of the sum realised. 



The functions of the new court commenced in Novem- 

 ber 1849 ; and up to November 1852, three years after- 

 wards, it had received two thousand five hundred and 

 fifty-four petitions for the sale of as many properties, re- 

 presenting in all an annual rental of 1,360,000, and 

 charged with mortgages to the extent of 30,400,000, or 

 nearly their whole value. Up to the same period, about 

 one-third of the properties under petition say eight 

 hundred and thirty- nine in all had been sold. One mil- 

 lion two hundred and fifty thousand acres had changed 

 hands. In 1853 and 1854 the sales were being con- 

 tinued in the same proportion. 



The average sale-price has been at the rate of 5^ to 6 

 per cent on the nominal rental ; or, as they say in 

 England, eighteen years' purchase. This rate caused a 

 great outcry on the part of the dispossessed proprietors, 

 a pretty considerable number of whom found themselves 

 ruined at once ; but, on a nearer view, it is not found 

 to be quite so disadvantageous. Properties in the good 

 counties, such as Antrim, Down, Tyrone, Meath, "VVest- 

 meath, and Dublin, sell at rates equal to a return to the 

 purchaser of four per cent. If those situated in what 

 were formerly the most wretched districts have produced 

 only such a price as will give eight to ten per cent, it is 

 because they were not worth more. Nothing was more 

 uncertain than the declared rental ; it was based upon 

 that of 1847, and even then it was seldom paid. At the 

 time of sale, several years' rent was in arrear, while 

 the future appeared to have still worse prospects than 

 the past, and considerable outlays on the part of the 



