Part Ii. the Statutes Relating to the Relief of Congestion in Ireland.

Two Classes of Occupiers in Ireland—Establishment of the Congested Districts Board

Most of the earlier Statutes which have been summarised in the first part of this chapter deal with the rights and obligations of Irish Tenants without any attempt at Economic discrimination. No distinction was drawn between the occupiers of uneconomic holdings and those who were able to make a living and pay a rent out of their farms. Some slight recognition of the fact that the smaller tenants had a special claim to protection was shown by the Compensation for Disturbance Clause (Section 3) of the Act of 1870, which enacted that a tenant of a holding valued at £10 or under might be awarded a sum not exceeding seven years’ rent, while a tenant above £100 Valuation could not in any case receive more than one year’s rent. Beyond that, however, nothing was done. It took many years to get the Irish Administration to understand that something more than “Fixity of Tenure” was necessary if the periodical famines and endemic misery of the poorer occupiers of the West and South of Ireland were to be fought successfully. It was, however, finally recognised that, in many parts of the country, the average character of the holdings was below the level which is necessary in order to make a reasonable standard of living possible, and it was then resolved to adopt special means to meet the evil. The establishment of the Congested Districts Board in 1891 was the outcome of this resolve. It was the first attempt made to discriminate by legislation between the two great classes of Irish occupiers, namely, those whose holdings were capable of affording a means of livelihood and of paying a rent; and those who were so impoverished as to be incapable of supporting themselves without assistance from outside.

The word “Congestion,” as applied to land, has acquired a special and peculiar meaning in Ireland. It has become a term of art, and, like many another word of the kind, has travelled far from its original meaning. It does not mean, as might be supposed, “pressure of population.” The definition of a “Congested District” given in the Act of 1891, is a district in which more than 20 per cent. of the population live in electoral divisions of which the total rateable value, when divided by the number of the population, gives a sum of less than 30s. for each person. This definition is, of course, arbitrary, and in fact includes many districts through which a man might drive for miles without seeing a human habitation, and excludes districts in which the population is in truth “Congested.”

The word connotes not the over-population of particular localities, but rather the condition of the people in those localities. Owing to various reasons, mainly historical, a population which, having regard to the means of subsistence, may be called excessive, is to be found on the large area of poor land that extends along the western seaboard of Ireland from Donegal to Cork. In some regions it is really “congested” and, as in such places the poverty of the people is most pronounced and obtrusive, the problem was supposed to be one of “congestion,” and so the word came to be used. The true area of congestion is, of course, the western part of the Island, but it must not be supposed that the same problem does not arise in other parts of Ireland—(even in the province of Leinster)—in an acute form. This was recognised by the framers of the Land Act of 1909, and now the Estates Commissioners are empowered to purchase compulsorily, not only any congested estate, but also, in the case of any estate which does not as a whole come within the definition of a “Congested Estate,” any townlands forming part of the Estate which are themselves “Congested.” The definition of a “Congested Estate” is “an Estate not less than half the area of which consists of holdings not exceeding seven pounds in rateable value or of mountain or bog land or not less than a quarter of the area of which is held in rundale or intermixed plots.” There is a further power given to the Commissioners to acquire compulsorily untenanted lands. Under these powers the Estates Commissioners will be able to do for the rest of Ireland what the Board is doing for the Congested Districts, namely: to turn the present uneconomic holdings into economic ones by the addition thereto of other lands; and further, by the consolidation of holdings held in rundale or in intermixed plots, to put an end to the waste of effort inherent in such a system.

Statutes Dealing with Congestion

(Act of 1891—Act of 1893—Act of 1894—Act of 1896—Act of 1899—Act of 1901—Act of 1903—Act of 1909)

The Congested Districts Board was founded under the authority of Section 34 of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, to continue for twenty years, “and thereafter until Parliament shall otherwise determine.” It was given power (Section 39) to aid migration and emigration within a congested districts county, to sell suitable seed potatoes and seed oats to occupiers, to aid and develop agriculture, forestry, the breeding of live stock and poultry, weaving, spinning, fishing (including the construction of piers and harbours, the supply of fishing boats and gear, and industries connected with fishing), and any other suitable industries. Powers were also given for the enlargement of holdings whether subject to purchase annuities, or to rents to private owners, but these powers were so circumscribed and guarded, as to be unworkable. The Board was granted an income to commence with of £41,250 a year. In 1893 an Act was passed (56 & 57 Vic., c. 35) which gave the Board power to acquire land and to hold it as landlords for the enlargement of holdings and for the purpose of the Land Purchase Acts. In 1894 another Act was passed which enabled the Board to give to the Land Commission, on selling to a tenant purchaser, a guarantee for the repayment of the annuity. Such guarantee enabled the Land Commission to dispense with their retention of any sum out of the purchase money as a guarantee deposit, a practice which, if followed, would have seriously crippled the operations of the Board. The Land Law Act of 1896 gave power to the Board to obtain an advance from the Land Commission for the purchase of estates “in like manner as if the Board were a tenant purchasing his holding.” This Act contained some provisions that greatly hampered the Board. Thus an advance could not be obtained by a tenant valued at under £10 for the repurchase of his holding from the Board. Also Section 40 (2) enabled Court tenants and temporary tenants to obtain advances under the Purchase Acts in the case of sales of estates under the section in the Land Judges’ Court. This meant that the lands that were most required by the Board for the Relief of Congestion were commonly disposed of to graziers and others. The Congested Districts Act of 1899 cleared away these two obstacles to the work of the Board, and also enabled the Land Commission to make advances for the redemption of head rents and other “superior interests,” and increased the Parliamentary Grant from £6,500 to £25,000. The Congested Districts Board Act of 1901 gave a limited power of dealing with obstructive tenants in the rearrangement of the estates purchased. It also gave the Board all the powers of entry on a holding subject to a statutory tenancy for the purposes of mining, quarrying, cutting timber or turf, opening or making roads, fences, drains, and water-courses, hunting, fishing, shooting, etc., given to the landlord by Section 5 (subsection 5) of the Act of 1881, and further extended these powers to holdings not subject to statutory tenancies. The Act also enabled the Board to purchase land outside a congested districts county with the approval of the Lord-Lieutenant. The Land Act of 1903 gave facilities to the Board for the purchase of estates, similar to those given to the Estates Commissioners under the Act. It also gave the Board the discretionary power of deciding whether an advance should be made to a purchaser; of what amount the advance should be; and how far the security was sufficient. The collection of the purchase annuities so made, was, however, still left to the Land Commission. The Act added £20,000 to the annual income of the Board, to be drawn from the Irish Development Grant (Section 38).

Under Mr. Birrell’s Act of 1909 the constitution, powers, duties and income of the Board were reconstituted and enlarged. The new Board consists of fourteen members, three of whom are ex-officio, namely, the Chief Secretary, the Under-Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant and the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture; nine are appointed by the Crown; and two are paid permanent members. The annual income of the Board was raised from £86,250 to £250,000, and its operations were extended so as to comprise the counties of Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, and parts of the counties of Clare and Cork. It was enacted that thenceforward no Congested Estate could be sold under the Land Purchase Acts in a congested districts county to persons other than the Congested Districts Board without the consent of that Board; that the Land Commission before entering into an agreement for the purchase of any land in a congested districts county, should obtain the consent of the Board; and the power of purchasing estates and land compulsorily through the Estates Commissioners was given to the Board within all congested districts.

Up to February 1st, 1911, the Congested Districts Board had purchased estates of the value of £1,813,568, and of this, lands of the value of £1,710,304 then remained unsold. The remainder, so far as they were “tenanted lands,” had been sold to the tenants, and, so far as they were “untenanted lands,” had been used in enlarging the neighbouring holdings or in the creation of new holdings. In the latter cases, the new farms were fenced and drained and houses built thereon. On some estates where the tenants held in rundale or had joint rights of grazing over parts of the land, the Board “striped” the whole estate, giving to each tenant an enlarged and compact holding, properly drained and fenced. An example of the excellent work done on such an estate can be seen by anyone who will pay a visit to Clare Island at the mouth of Clew Bay in the County of Mayo. An example of the work done in creating new holdings can perhaps best be seen on the Dillon Estate in the County of Roscommon.

Since the passing of the Act of 1909 the most extravagant ideas as to the powers of the Board have got abroad among the people of the congested areas, and applications are being made to them from every estate—almost from every parish—to purchase and divide up particular lands. The area of the congested counties under their control amounts to 7,658,114 acres, or about one-third of the whole of Ireland. Even assuming that a large number of these applications should not be granted, there still remains a residue of work to be done which would tax the capacity of a Board many times stronger both in resources and staff than the Congested Districts Board.

At the present time the Board is possessed of large tracts of land which they annually let on grazing contracts or which they stock themselves. This is not as it should be, for, when the people see lands taken by the Board used year after year as pasture, they begin to lose faith in the capacity and usefulness of the institution.

It is not the fault of the Board. It would take a much bigger income than they possess and a much bigger staff than they command, to cope with the work which they have to do and which ought to be done.

Parliament has now given them enormous and compulsory powers. Immense pressure will be put on them to exercise these powers, and in many cases if the powers were exercised it would be for the lasting benefit of the country. If the Board are to carry out fully the work which they have been created to do, the Government must in the near future again come to their assistance. With their present resources, their task is well-nigh impossible.