Select Committee on general valuation: report, proceedings, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

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SELECT COMMITTEE ON GENERAL VALUATION, &C. 
(IRELAND). 
43 1298. 
Making maps is one large item of your expenditure; I wish to see how often they are macle ?—Some 
of the gentlemen from the office Avill tell you exactly. 
I believe it is once in four years on an average. 
1299. 
Then, if "in some counties they are not made every fourth year, they must be made oftener in other counties to bring up the average? 
—It is about every fourth year I should say. 

1300. 
On the wdiole, you believe you have in your office four distinct sets of maps for the counties that were valued 16 years ago ?—I 
should not like to say that without looking into it. 

1301. 
For any single county in Ireland, would you say that you have four sets of maps ?—Yes 
; the whole county might not be copied. 
There might be part of a county copied oftener even than once in three years. 
The matter would require looking into very closely. 
1302. 
With respect to Roscommon, can you tell me how many copies of maps you have had in that county ?—I 
cannot. 
The maps are all in town, I think. 
1303. 
What position did you occupy in the Valuation Office before you became superinten¬ 

dent ?—I 
was a divisional superintendent with a ^r> charge over the whole. 
JJ, Greene. 
1304. 
You were immediately made a general divisional superintendent?—No; 
I was sent to 6 May i860, the country first. 

1305. 
In what capacity?—To 
examine ap¬ peals ; Kilkenny was the first place I went to. 

1306. 
That Avas the first duty in which you were employed?—Yes. 
1307. 
Who examined appeals up to that time? 
—Mr. 
John Kelly; the previous superintendent had not resigned, at that time, but I took the principal part of his duty until he resigned. 
1308. 
From the time when you first entered the service until you became superintendent, was a very shoit period, I believe ?—It 
was more than a year; about a year and a-half. 

1309. 
During that year and a-half you were employed first in looking after appeals, and then as sub-superintendent in Dublin ?—Yes. 
1310. 
You were never employed as a valuator ? 
—I have already explained that I have valued large estates in Ireland. 
1311. 
I mean in the Valuation Office?—No; 
excepting those appeal cases. 

Sir Richard Griffith, Bart., 
called in; and Examined. 
1312. 
Chairman.] 
You were until very re¬ cently, on your resignation, the Commissioner for the General Valuation of Ireland ?—I 
was. 
1313. 
I think you were commissioner from the time when the office Avas first established to your resignation, about 39 years?—I 
was appointed commissioner of valuation on the passing of the 7 Geo. 
4, c. 
62 ; that was in 1825 ; the Act did not come into operation until 1830, because the Ordnance maps were not completed until that time of the northern counties, namely London¬ derry and Antrim. 
1314. 
What was the date of your original appointment, and what was the date of your re¬ signation?—My 
original appointment, I belieAre, was in 1830. 
I do not know Avhether the actual commission issued until the commencement of the valuation, I think not; that was about June 1830; I resigned the commissionership of valua¬ tion on the 30th October last. 
1315. 
Did you on your resignation give up any salary ?—No. 
1316. 
Mi*. 
Greene who was appointed to succeed you had an increase of 4001, a year ?— 
He had. 
1317. 
Would you be good enough to state what public appointments or employment you have had in addition to the commissionership of valuation, since the time you were appointee! 
to that office ?—When 
I was appointed commissioner of valuation I was engaged on the perambulation of boundaries, previous to the commencement of the Ordnance survey. 
1318. 
That is called the preliminary survey ? 
—The boundary survey ; the Act Avas passed in 1825, it is the 6 Geo. 
4, c. 
99 ; I was appointed as the general boundary surveyor, and the whole of the perambulation of Ireland was conducted by me from its commencement to its termination; the boundaries of counties, parishes, andto wnlands; of the last there were 69,000. 
1319. 
Those boundaries were not to affect properties? 
— They were merely for valuation; they did not affect the rights of private property. 
1320. 
Will you state what other public employ¬ ments you have held ?—At 
the time that I was 0.57. 

conducting the boundary survey, I was engineer of the southern district roads; I was ap¬ pointed by the Marquis of Wellesley in 1822, and I continued till 1846 in that office; during that period I completed 250 miles of roads in the counties of Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Tipperary. 
1321. 
Have you held any other appointments ? 
—No; I think it right to mention, that for the roads I had three guineas a day, and when I was appointed to the boundary survey, the roads being nearly completed, I did not want any increase in salary, being willing to do both services for the same money ; the sub-division I made was two guineas a day for the boundary and one guinea for the roads. 
1322. 
But I believe, you held other appoint¬ ments ; you were Commissioner of Public Works? 
—I was appointed to the Public Works in 1861; I was deputy chairman of the Board of Public Works. 
I think it right to inform the Committee that in the Act 9 & 10 Vict. 
c. 
110, 1846, there was a change made ; I was paid originally for the valuation 500 I. 
a year; that was limited by the Act; but in the 9 & 10 Vict, it was changed to three guineas a day; on my being appointed deputy chairman of the Board of Public Works I resigned the three guineas a day and took 500 I. 
as my salary; that was done at my own suggestion. 
1323. 
Were those different employments, in your opinion, compatible with the heavy duties of the commissioner of valuation, so that they could be attended to in the same office ?—They 
were not incompatible; the roads were com¬ pleted in 1846; there were only two of them remaining, and they occupied hardly any of my time; from 1840 the main roads were finished, and only a small portion of my time was devoted to them; the boundary survey was also in such a state of order and regulation that it did not re¬ quire very much of my time ; at the commence¬ ment of the valuation I devoted almost my entire time to it, and for the first three months I went out in the field with the new valuators every day; that was when I was forming what I con¬ sidered to be a school of valuation. 
E 2 1324. 
As 

Sir R. 
Griffith, 

Bart.