Part Iii. Statutes Relating to the Provision of Allotments of Land and

Dwellings for Agricultural Labourers in Ireland.

(Act of 1883—Act of 1885—Act of 1886—Act of 1891—Act of 1892—Act of 1896—Act of 1903—Part IV. of the Irish Land Act, 1903—Act of 1906)

Previous to the Act of 1883 little or nothing had been done to meet the want of better housing for the agricultural labourers in Ireland. Their condition was deplorable. The houses in which they lived were almost everywhere throughout the country of the worst description. In fact, they were little better than hovels.

By the Acts of 1883 to 1906, the Rural District Councils of Ireland were empowered to obtain loans to provide suitable dwellings and allotments of land for agricultural labourers. The loans might be applied, subject to the approval of the Local Government Board, for any of the following purposes: the acquisition of land either for new cottages and allotments or for additional allotments; the acquisition of existing houses; the erection of new houses; the legal, engineering and incidental expenses in connection with these purposes. The amount of land which might be allotted to any one labourer was not to exceed one statute acre.

The expression “agricultural labourer” is defined by Section 4 of the Act of 1886 as “a man or woman who does agricultural work for hire at any season of the year on the land of some other person or persons, and shall include handloom weavers and fishermen doing agricultural work as aforesaid and shall also include herdsmen.” By Section 93 of the Land Act of 1903 (Part IV. of which is construed as one of the Labourers Acts) the earlier definition is enlarged so as to include “any person (other than a domestic or menial servant) working for hire in a rural district whose average wages in the year preceding the lodgment of any representation under the Labourers Acts affecting him do not exceed two shillings and sixpence a day, and who is not in occupation of land exceeding one quarter of an acre.” These definitions are very wide and, practically speaking, enable the Sanitary Authority to provide cottages and allotments for all labourers in rural districts, who are thus placed on somewhat the same footing as artisans in urban districts are placed under the Housing of the Working Classes Act. The Rural District Councils are given power to acquire, compulsorily or by agreement, the necessary lands from the owner either by purchase of the fee simple or on a lease for a term not exceeding ninety-nine years. If the lands are acquired compulsorily in fee, the amounts to be paid to the owners and occupiers are fixed by an arbitrator appointed by the Local Government Board; if the lands are acquired compulsorily for a term of years, the rents to be paid are fixed by the Land Commission.

If the Council cannot agree with the owner as to the price to be paid, they must prepare a scheme showing the lands it is purposed to take, and the scheme must be confirmed by an Inspector of the Irish Local Government Board. Any person interested can appeal, at their option, either to the County Court Judge or to the Local Government Board. In either case the decision is final. There is no appeal against the price fixed by the arbitrator unless the amount awarded exceeds one thousand pounds.

Prior to the passing of the Act of 1906, the loans for the purposes of the Labourers Acts were advanced by the Commissioners of Public Works and were repayable by annuities which included principal and interest. The rates of interest varied according to the number of years during which the annuities were payable, and at the passing of the Act of 1906 were as follows:

Period. Rate of Annuity Interest. covering Principal and Interest. 20 years 3-½ per cent. £7 0s. 9d. 30 years 3-¾ £5 12s. 2d. 40 years 4 £5 1s. 1d. 50 years 4-¼ £4 17s. 2d.

The Act of 1906 enabled the Rural District Councils to obtain advances for the purposes of the Labourers Acts up to 4-¼ millions from the Land Commission out of the Irish Land Purchase Fund, and provided that such advances were to be repayable in like manner as the advances under the Irish Land Act of 1903, that is to say, by annuities at 3-¼ per cent. (covering both principal and interest) and payable for 68-½ years. This annuity rate has been continued in the case of advances for the purposes of the Labourers Acts by the Irish Land Act, 1909, which Act increased the annuity rate to 3-½ per cent. in respect of all advances for lands purchased under the Land Purchase Acts since September 15th, 1909.

It will thus be seen that the terms of repayment for loans under the Labourers Acts were made much easier by the Act of 1906 than they were under the previous Labourers Acts. That Act further provided that only 64 per cent. of the charge was to be borne by the local rates; the remaining 36 per cent. being defrayed, as to 16 per cent. out of the Labourers’ Cottages Fund established by the Act, and as to 20 per cent. out of the Irish Development Grant. There was placed at the disposal of the Local Government Board the following sums for the purposes of the Labourers’ Cottages Fund: A capital sum of £150,000 taken from the Petty Sessions Clerks’ Fund; a principal sum of £7,000 taken from the Ireland Development Grant, an annual sum of £6,000 to be deducted from the Exchequer Contribution mentioned in Section 5 of the Land Purchase Act of 1891, and an annual sum of £9,000, equivalent to the savings to be effected by the abolition of two Irish Judgeships and a reduction in the salary of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

By an amending Act passed in 1911 a further sum of £36,000 cash, and 2-½ per cent. Consolidated Stock to the nominal value of £30,000, both taken out of the Fund of Suitors in the Supreme Court, were added to the Labourers’ Cottages Fund.

The effect of the change made by the Act of 1906 has been to reduce the charge per £100 on the rates from £4 17s. 2d. (the lowest amount payable before that Act) to £2 1s. 7d. the amount payable now—a reduction of almost 57 per cent.

Under the Acts of 1883 to 1896, 22,588 cottages were built, and the loans sanctioned amounted to £3,600,000. Under the Act of 1906, 12,821 additional cottages have been built, 5,057 are in course of erection, and others have been sanctioned or are awaiting sanction. The loans sanctioned under the Act amount to close on 4-¼ millions. This is the amount provided for by the Act of 1906. Another million on the same terms as the 4-¼ millions was provided by the amending Act of last year.

The average cost of each cottage built has been £175, and the average rent paid for a cottage with half an acre of land is 10d. per week, and for a cottage with an acre of land about 1s. per week.

The Labourers Act of 1906 included agricultural labourers in the class of persons to whom a parcel of untenanted land might be allotted by the Estates Commissioners, where the agricultural labourer had for a period, not less than five years immediately preceding, been resident on the estate or in the immediate neighbourhood thereof, but it provided that in no case should any advance be made to a labourer to purchase a parcel of land so long as he was in occupation of a tenancy under the Acts. The Act also empowered the Estates Commissioners to make advances to Rural District Councils, as trustees under Section 4 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, to purchase parcels of untenanted land for the purposes of the Labourers Acts.

The Labourers Acts and their administration have been, on the whole, extremely successful. No legislation passed during the last thirty years was more entirely needed, and none has been more beneficial to the country. The benefit is one which no one who travelled through Ireland thirty years ago, and who travels through it again to-day can fail to remark.

Where dilapidated hovels stood formerly, decent cottages stand to-day. A great deal still remains to be done, but what has been done has been, on the whole, well done. Up to the present there has been no inquiry ever asked for into the working of the Acts. That fact in itself shows that no serious dissatisfaction has been felt with their administration. However, from time to time complaints are heard which should be attended to; complaints as to the unsuitability of the people for whom cottages have been built; as to the size or workmanship of the cottages; as to a number of the cottages, remaining untenanted; and more often as to jobbery in respect of the sites chosen. Considering the amount of work done, it is surprising that the complaints have been so few. Nevertheless, it would be well that an inquiry should be held. It would tend to prevent any existing abuses from increasing.