LAND BOND ACT, 1934

AN ACT TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION FOR THE CREATION AND ISSUE OF LAND BONDS FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE PAYMENT OF PURCHASE MONEYS AND THE MAKING OF ADVANCES UNDER THE LAND PURCHASE ACTS AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE PAYMENT OF INTEREST ON AND THE REDEMPTION OF SUCH LAND BONDS AND FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH. [23rd March, 1934.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 The Principal Act.

1.—In this Act the expression “the Principal Act” means the Land Act, 1923 (No. 42 of 1923), and, save where the context otherwise requires, shall be construed as referring to that Act as amended or extended by any subsequent Act.

2 Payment of purchase money in land bonds.

2.—(1) All purchase money (except purchase money which is required by the Land Bond Act, 1933 (No. 33 of 1933), to be paid by means of an issue of new land bonds under that Act and except purchase money which is advanced otherwise than by means of land bonds issued under an Act passed before this Act) payable by the Land Commission after the passing of this Act to vendors shall be paid by means of an issue under this Act of land bonds created under this Act equal in nominal amount to such purchase money.

• (2) Where purchase money is, under this section, payable by means of an issue of land bonds created under this Act, such land bonds shall, as between the vendor to whom they are issued and the Land Commission, be accepted by such vendor as the equivalent of the corresponding amount of purchase money, and any person having power to sell under the Land Purchase Acts may, although he is not an absolute owner, enter into a subsequent purchase agreement notwithstanding that the purchase money is, under this section, to be paid in land bonds created and issued under this Act instead of cash.

• (3) Section 3 of the Principal Act as amended by section 4 of the Land Bond Act, 1925 (No. 25 of 1925), shall apply to all claims against the purchase money (as defined in the said section 3 as so amended) when such purchase money is, under this section, payable in land bonds created and issued under this Act in like manner as it applies to the claims mentioned in the said section 3 as so amended, but subject to the modification that references in the said section 3 as so amended to land bonds shall be construed and have effect as references to land bonds created and issued under this Act.

3 Making of advances in land bonds.

3.—(1) All advances (except advances which are required by the Land Bond Act, 1933 (No. 33 of 1933), to be made by means of an issue of new land bonds under that Act) made for the purposes of the Principal Act by the Land Commission after the passing of this Act shall be made by means of an issue under this Act of land bonds created under this Act.

• (2) The provisions of the Land Purchase Acts relating to the making of advances by the Land Commission for the purposes of the Principal Act, the payment of interest on and the repayment of the capital of such advances by means of purchase annuities or otherwise, and the guarantee of such payment and repayment shall apply to advances made under this section by means of an issue of land bonds created under this Act in like manner in all respects as they apply to advances made by the Land Commission for the purposes of the Principal Act before the passing of this Act.

4 Creation of land bonds by order.

4.—(1) In order to provide for the making of advances and the payment of purchase moneys which are required by this Act to be made or paid by means of an issue under this Act of land bonds, the Minister for Finance may, from time to time as occasion requires but subject to the provisions of this Act, by order create a series of land bonds of such total amount and such denominations (not less in any case than one pound) and bearing interest at such rate (not less than three nor more than four per cent. per annum) and subject to such conditions in relation to registration or inscription as the said Minister shall think proper and shall specify in such order.

• (2) Every order made under this section shall restrict the issue of land bonds of the series created by such order to the purpose of making advances and paying purchase moneys the amounts of which are agreed or fixed during a specified period.

• (3) When fixing under this section the rate of interest to be borne by any series of land bonds, the Minister for Finance shall have regard to the prices at which the latest issue of National Loan and previous issues of land bonds under this Act or the Land Bond Act, 1933 (No. 33 of 1933), are quoted on the Dublin Stock Exchange, to the intent that the rate of interest so fixed may (within the limits imposed by this section) be such as to secure that the market price of land bonds of the said series shall, for a reasonable time after the creation of the said series, be at or near par.

• (4) Where the rate of interest payable on a series of land bonds created by an order under this section is the same as the rate of interest payable on a series of land bonds created by a previous order under this section, such first-mentioned series of land bonds may, by the order creating the same, be consolidated with such previous series of land bonds.

• (5) Every order made under this section shall fix the sums to be set aside in the Land Bond Fund at the close of every half-year ending on the 1st day of May and the 1st day of November for the redemption of the series of land bonds created by such order, and shall also fix the rate of interest and sinking fund to be paid by the Land Commission to the Land Bond Fund on all sums advanced and paid by the issue of land bonds of the said series and not certified by the Minister for Finance to have been repaid.

• (6) Every order made under this section shall fix or make provision for the fixing by the Minister for Finance of the rate of the purchase annuities and other annual sums payable for the repayment of purchase money paid or advances made by means of an issue of land bonds of the series created by such order.

• (7) Every order made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made.

5 Issue of land bonds created under this Act.

5.—(1) For the purpose of making an advance or paying any purchase money which is required by this Act to be made or paid by means of an issue under this Act of land bonds, there shall be issued as and when required such amount as may be requisite of the series of land bonds created under this Act which is applicable to that purpose.

• (2) For the purpose of the calculation of the amount of land bonds to be issued under this section in any particular case, all purchase money and all payments to be made out of purchase money shall be calculated to the nearest pound.

6 Limitations on the creation and issue of land bonds under this Act.

6.—(1) The total amount of land bonds created and issued under this Act shall not exceed ten million pounds.

• (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other section of this Act, land bonds created and issued under this Act for the purpose of making an advance or paying any purchase money the amount of which is agreed or fixed on or before the 31st day of December, 1935, shall bear interest at the rate of four per cent. per annum on the nominal amount thereof.

7 Interest on and redemption of land bonds.

7.—(1) Land bonds created and issued under this Act shall bear interest at such rate as shall be specified in the order by which they are created and such interest shall be payable by equal half-yearly instalments at such times in each year as may be fixed by the Minister for Finance either in the said order or by regulations made by him under this Act.

• (2) Land bonds created and issued under this Act shall be redeemable at par together with payment of all arrears of interest, and the Minister for Finance shall, either by the order creating the land bonds or by regulations made by him under this Act, make arrangements for such redemption by means of periodical drawings.

• (3) The Minister for Finance shall, either by the order creating the land bonds or by regulations made by him under this Act, provide for the immediate redemption of land bonds created and issued under this Act which are transferred by order of the Judicial Commissioner in redemption of land purchase annuities charged on lands acquired by the Land Commission under the Principal Act.

• (4) At any time after the expiration of thirty years from the passing of this Act, all or any land bonds created and issued under this Act and not previously redeemed may be redeemed at par at such time or times and either by drawings or otherwise as the Minister for Finance may direct.

• (5) The interest on land bonds created and issued under this Act and the sums required for the redemption of such land bonds under this section shall be paid out of the Land Bond Fund and, if that Fund shall be insufficient for that purpose, shall be charged upon and paid out of the Central Fund and the growing produce thereof as a first charge thereon after the charges created before the passing of this Act.

• (6) All money paid out of the Central Fund to the Land Bond Fund under the next preceding sub-section of this section shall be treated as a temporary advance to the Land Bond Fund and shall, subject to the provisions of section 27 of the Land Act, 1933 (No. 38 of 1933), be made good out of the Guarantee Fund.

8 Adaptation of provisions relating to the costs fund.

8.—For the purposes of the application of section 5 of the Principal Act to cases in which the purchase money is advanced by means of an issue of land bonds created under this Act, all references in the said section 5 to 4½ per cent. Land Bonds shall be construed as references to land bonds created and issued under this Act, and the said section 5 shall, for the purposes of such application, have effect accordingly.

9 Accounts of the Land Bond Fund.

9.—The Minister for Finance shall, in the accounts kept by him of transactions in respect of the Land Bond Fund, distinguish between transactions in respect, on the one hand, of land bonds issued under any Act passed before this Act and advances and payments made by the issue of such land bonds and, on the other hand, of land bonds created and issued under this Act and advances and payments made by the issue of such land bonds, and the said Minister shall further distinguish in the said accounts between transactions in respect of each series of land bonds created and issued under this Act and advances and payments made by the issue of land bonds of each such series.

10 Regulations.

10.—The Minister for Finance may make regulations for carrying the provisions of this Act into effect and may by such regulations adapt for the purposes of this Act any provision relating to land purchase finance contained in any Act passed before this Act.

11 Short title, construction, and citation.

11.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Land Bond Act, 1934.

• (2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Land Purchase Acts and may be cited with those Acts.