916 EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED 7th September, 1844.
great grievance.
If all thc Irish proprietors were to act as liberally with their tenantry as
the gentleman for whom 1 manage, the people would have very Httle cause to complain -"•-11"'-"-under the former proprietor; when he Mi.
E.
O'Sullivan.
O CD ' J.
J.
The property was formerly held by a middleman, died, thc property fell in to Mr.
Hariop.
Thc tenants owed thc representative oTthe middleman £400 or £500.
That representative was proceeding upon the bonds or bills and notes of those tenants, ancl the landlord stept in and paid thc arrears for thc tenants to tho representative of the middleman, and thereby relieved them, and kept them on the property, ancl reduced thc rent one-third.
lie pays twenty guineas a year, which is considered a very liberal sum, towards the dispensary in the district, where he has only £1,100 a year.
Towards all the roads made ho contributes most liberally ; and indeed in all cases in this country where English proprietors have property, you find then* tenantry much more comfortable than under Irish ones.
[The witness withdrew.]
Rev.
Denis M,ihony.
The Reverend Penis Mahony, sworn and examhied.
1.
Where is your residence?—Dromoro
Castle, about five miles from this town, in the county of Kerry.
2.
Are you a landed proprietor?—Yes.
3.
What is the district with winch you are so well acquainted as to be able to give us information ?—Thc
district is the parish of Templcnoe, where I reside—the next parish to this.
4.
What is thc general description of that parish ?—It
is chiefly a mountainous district, arable in.
some measure, but the arable bears a very small proportion to the whole.
My estate in the parish of Templenoe contains a gross amount of 18.662
acres, of which there were, when the survey was made in 1837, 2,034 acres of arable, the remainder being coarse mountain and pasture, but the greater portion of it is capable of reclamation—it is aU deep pastured by cattle.
5.
In what manner is it mostly let ?—It
is let in a variety of divisions ; to each farm there is a certain portion of arable and a certain portion mountain.
6.
Is the agriculture on the arable part improving?—Yes,
decidedly.
7.
Is there any increase of tUlage going on in thc upper part ?—I
am speaMng of my own estate only, and on that there is.
8.
Have you in any, and in what manner given encouragement to improvement upon that part of the estate ?—Yes;
by giving premiums for thc growth of turnips.
I give £15 a premium in five divisions.
Last year I had very few competitors, but this year there are about thirty who have sown turnips, and they will compete for the premiums.
9.
Are there many leases held in common ?—Upon
this part there arc no leases in common.
10.
Have you taken any pains to instruct the tenants as to thc manner in wMch they could make the turnips most useful ?—Yes.
My agent, Mr.
Hyde, wlio acts for me, goes through the estate and directs them in thc improvements, and how they are to cultivate their turnips.
He is both agent and steward.
11.
Is he employed exclusively in instructing them ?—No
; his business is to account for the coUection of the rent, and the improvement of thc estate, wliich is of more consequence than any thing else.
He is employed exclusively upon my own estate.
12.
In what manner is the rent fixed in your case ; is it by proposal or valuation gene¬ raUy?—I
never let the land by proposal.
I put a rent upon* it myself; they never bid for it, nor is there any arrangement but what I choose to put it upon.
13.
Have you had any means of comparing the poor rate valuation with the letting value ?—Yes.
My land is let at about the "same valuation as the poor law valuation.
When, a depression in the times took place I reduced the rent twenty per cent, to some, and it is now upon the same footing.
14.
Do you give the tenants any other encouragement in then-improvements than you have stated ?—Yes,
in the maMng of ditches.
I give them timber for their houses, and to those who are diposed to make use of timber in the making of carts.
Now they have got roads made through the wild places, they aU get timber for then-houses.
15.
By whom were the roads made ?—I
made a good many at my own expense.
There has been one pubHc road made by the Board of Works—they subsoUed one portion and the county another, and I subscribed £400 myself; it is a road that runs through the centre of my estate.
16.
Is there any thing you can suggest as to the improvement of agriculture ?—I
could not suggest any thing of more service than the establishment of agricultural schools.
_
1 think that would do more good than any thing else.
In the parish of Templenoe, a district six or seven mUes EngHsh in width and the same in breadth, there is one school in one part of the parish, and another in another, that would afford opportunities to the cMldren of the tenants to avaU themselves of it.
If the landlord was to grant a piece of land uncler those circumstances, and if those schools were erected partly at the expense of the country and partly at the expense of government, it would contribute greatly to the improvement of the parish.
17.
Are there any schools hi the parish ?—Yes;
but not of any importance to the advancement of agriculture.
If there were agricultural schools estabhshed, their nunas would be better qualified to receive instruction in every way.
, ^ 18.
Has there been any attempt to introduce agricultural histruction in any of the scnou that have been estabhshed ?—No.
I have given pamphlets myself.
