The Irish Land Acts/The Labourers Acts

by William Frederick Bailey

SECTION XVII.

Labourers.

Statutes relating to the Provision of Allotments of Land and Dwellings for Agricultural Labourers in Ireland.

The Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1906, empower Rural District Councils to obtain loans to provide suitable dwellings and allotments of land for agricultural labourers. The loans may 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; and for the legal, engineering and incidental expenses in connection with these purposes.

The expression "agricultural labourer," for the purposes of the Labourers Acts, is defined by section 4 of the Act of 1886 to mean "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." Section 93 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, provides that the expression "agricultural labourer" in the Labourers Acts shall also 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."

The amount of land which may be given to a labourer under the Labourers Acts cannot exceed one statute acre.

The Rural District Council can acquire, compulsorily or by agreement, the land from the owner, either by purchase of the fee-simple or on a lease for a term not exceeding 99 years. If the lands are acquired in fee compulsorily, the sums paid to the owner and occupying tenant 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.

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

House erected by the Estate Commissioners on new holdings created by the on
untenanted land acquired on Nevin Estate at Mount-Shannon, County Limerick.

House erected by the Estates Commissioners on new holdings created by them on
untenanted land acquired on Gervais Estate, County Tyrone.

were payable, and at the passing of the Act of 1906 they were as follows:—

Period.		Rate of Interest.		Annuity covering Principal and Interest.
20 years		3½ per cent.		£7  0  9
30  „		3¾  „		5 12  2
40  „		4    „		5  1  1
50  „		4¼  „		4 17  2

The Act of 1906 enabled the Rural Districts Councils to obtain advances for the purposes of the Labourers Acts up to 4¼ 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 3¼ per cent. (covering both principal and interest), and payable for 68½ 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 3½ per cent. in respect of all advances for lands purchased under the Land Purchase Acts since 15th September, 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. The Act of 1906 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 20 per cent. out of the Irish Development Grant. The Act placed at the disposal of the Local Government Board for the purposes of the Labourers' Cottages Fund, capital sums amounting to £157,000, and annual sums coming to £15,000.

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, 11,772 additional cottages have been built; 5,172 are in course of erection, and others have been sanctioned, or are awaiting sanction, and the loans sanctioned under the Act amount to close on 4¼ millions. This is the amount provided for by the Act of 1906, and the Act of 1911 provided for another million on the same terms as the 4¼ millions.

The Labourers Act of 1906 included agricultural labourers in the classes 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 residing on the estate or in the immediate neighbourhood thereof, and provided that any pre-existing tenancy under the Labourers Acts in his case was determined before the advance was made to him to purchase the parcel of land. The Act also empowered the Estates Commissioners to make advances to Rural District Councils to purchase, as trustees under section 4 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, parcels of untenanted land for the purposes of the Labourers Acts; and it includes an agricultural labourer who is a tenant to a district council of a cottage and plot, or of an allotment under the Labourers Acts, amongst the persons for whom turbary can be provided by the Estates Commissioners when making regulations under Section 21 of the Land Act of 1903 for the user of turbary on holdings on which, prior to the purchase of the holding under the Land Purchase Acts the tenant had not the exclusive right to the turbary.

In connection with the sale of estates, up to and including 31st March, 1916, the Estates Commissioners forwarded to Rural District Councils and to the Local Government Board 189 representations or reports advising that 322 cottages should be erected to supply the needs of 279 holdings. Advances amounting to £5,703 have been made to agricultural labourers under Section 2 of the Act of 1903 and Section 19 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906.