RATES ON AGRICULTURAL LAND (RELIEF) ACT, 1935

AN ACT TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF THE AGRICULTURAL GRANT REFERRED TO IN SECTION 48 OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) ACT, 1898, FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR WHICH BEGAN ON THE 1st DAY OF APRIL, 1934, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE APPLICATION OF THE SAID GRANT AS SO INCREASED AND FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH. [18th January, 1935.]

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

1 Definitions.

1.—(1) The expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government and Public Health;

the word “county” does not include a county borough;

the expression “scheduled urban district” means an urban district mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act;

the expression “the Act of 1898” means the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, as adapted by or under any subsequent enactment;

the expression “the Act of 1925” means the Local Government (Rates on Agricultural Land) Act, 1925 (No. 35 of 1925);

the expression “the Act of 1931” means the Local Government (Rates on Agricultural Land) Act, 1931 (No. 28 of 1931);

the expression “the Act of 1933” means the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1933 (No. 43 of 1933);

the expression “financial year” includes local financial year;

the expression “the current financial year” means the financial year which began on the 1st day of April, 1934;

the word “valuation” when used without qualification means valuation under the Valuation Acts;

the expression “rating area”—

• (a) when used in relation to the council of a county, means such county exclusive of any urban districts therein and

• (b) when used in relation to the council of an urban district, means such urban district;

the expression “agricultural land” does not include any land forming part of a railway or a canal nor any land in a scheduled urban district which was, at the passing of the Act of 1898, situate in an urban sanitary district, but subject to those exceptions and to any declaration made under the next following sub-section of this section, includes all land which is described as agricultural land in the valuation lists under the Valuation Acts and is situate in the rating area of the council of a county or of a scheduled urban district;

the expression “tenement of agricultural land” means a rate-able hereditament or tenement which consists wholly or partly of agricultural land;

save where the context otherwise requires, the expression “the agricultural grant” means the aggregate of the following grants, that is to say:—

• (a) the agricultural grant referred to in section 48 of the Act of 1898, and

• (b) the supplementary grant under the Act of 1925, and

• (c) the additional supplementary grant under the Act of 1931, and

• (d) the grant which the Minister for Finance is required by this Act to make in the current financial year.

• (2) The council of a county or of a scheduled urban district may, if they think proper, declare that the land within the curtilage of a specified dwellinghouse in the rating area of such council shall not be agricultural land for the purposes of this Act or for the purposes of the Act of 1898 as applied or affected by this Act, and thereupon such land shall not be agricultural land for those purposes.

2 Ascertainment of specified valuation.

2.—(1) The specified valuation for the purposes of this Act of any agricultural land in any particular county shall be ascertained in accordance with the following provisions, that is to say:—

• (a) where a person is rated in respect of only one tenement of agricultural land in such county and the valuation under the Valuation Acts of the agricultural land included in such tenement does not exceed twenty pounds, the specified valuation of such agricultural land shall be the valuation thereof under the Valuation Acts;

• (b) where a person is rated in respect of two or more tenements of agricultural land in such county and the total amount of the valuations under the Valuation Acts of all the agricultural land included in such tenements does not exceed twenty pounds, the specified valuation of the agricultural land included in each such tenement shall be the valuation thereof under the Valuation Acts;

• (c) where a person is rated under the Local Government (Rates on Small Dwellings) Act, 1928 (No. 4 of 1928), as owner in respect of two or more tenements of agricultural land in such county, the specified valuation of the agricultural land included in each such tenement shall be the valuation thereof under the Valuation Acts;

• (d) where the Irish Land Commission is rated in respect of only one tenement of agricultural land in such county and the valuation under the Valuation Acts of the agricultural land included in such tenement exceeds twenty pounds, the specified valuation of such agricultural land shall be twenty pounds;

• (e) where the Irish Land Commission is rated in respect of two or more tenements of agricultural land in such county and the total amount of the valuations under the Valuation Acts of all the agricultural land included in such tenements exceeds twenty pounds, the specified valuation of the agricultural land included in each such tenement shall be the valuation thereof under the Valuation Acts or twenty pounds, whichever is in each case the lesser;

• (f) the following provision shall apply where, but only where, none of the foregoing paragraphs of this section applies, that is to say:—

• (i) where a person is rated in respect of only one tenement of agricultural land in such county, the specified valuation of the agricultural land included in such tenement shall be twenty pounds, and

• (ii) where a person is rated in respect of two or more tenements of agricultural land in such county, such tenements shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to form together a single tenement of agricultural land, and the specified valuation of the agricultural land included in such single tenement shall be twenty pounds.

• (2) In this section the word “county” shall be construed as meaning the county inclusive of all scheduled urban districts which are situate in such county and exclusive of all other urban districts situate in such county.

3 Tenements in occupation of a trustee.

3.—Where a person is rated in respect of two or more tenements of agricultural land situate in the same county and the Minister is satisfied that such person occupies one or more but not all of such tenements (in this section referred to as the trust holding or holdings) as trustee under a trust which does not apply to the others or other of such tenements and under which such person derives no benefit or a partial benefit only from such occupation, the Minister may, if he thinks it reasonable so to do having regard to all the circumstances of the case, declare the trust holding or holdings to be in separate occupation from the others or other of such tenements, and thereupon and thereafter so long as the said trust subsists in respect of the trust holding or holdings and no others or other of such tenements, this Act shall apply and have effect in relation to all such tenements as if the trust holding or holdings and the others or other of such tenements were respectively occupied by different persons.

4 Increase of the agricultural grant.

4.—(1) In the current financial year the Minister for Finance shall make, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, a grant of four hundred and seventy thousand pounds, and such grant shall be so made by the said Minister by way of an increase (over and above the supplementary grant under the Act of 1925 and the additional supplementary grant under the Act of 1931) of the agricultural grant referred to in section 48 of the Act of 1898, and shall be deemed for the purpose of all enactments now in force to form part of the said agricultural grant referred to in the said section 48 and, in particular, shall be subject to the provisions of section 40 of the Irish Land Act, 1903.

• (2) Out of the agricultural grant in respect of the current financial year, there shall be paid to the Council of each of the several counties in Saorstát Eireann the sum stated in the second column of the Second Schedule to this Act opposite the name of the county where it appears in the first column of the said Second Schedule, and every sum so paid to a council shall be deemed to be the sum certified under section 48 of the Act of 1898 as payable to such council during the current financial year, and accordingly every enactment which applies to the sum so certified as payable to a council (whether so applying before or after the issue of such sum) shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, apply to the sum payable to such council in pursuance of this sub-section.

• (3) Sub-section (5) of section 6 of the Local Government Act, 1927 (No. 3 of 1927), shall not apply or have effect in relation to the agricultural grant in respect of the current financial year, and the said section 6 shall, in relation to that agricultural grant, be construed and have effect accordingly.

5 The primary allowance rate.

5.—(1) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Minister shall ascertain and certify in respect of every county—

• (a) the rate in the pound on the valuation for the financial year which began on the 1st day of April, 1933, of all agricultural land in such county to which the aggregate amount of the following grants is equivalent, that is to say:—

• (i) the sum certified under the Act of 1898 to be pay able out of the agricultural grant referred to in section 48 of that Act to the council of such county in respect of the financial year which began on the 1st day of April, 1933, and

• (ii) the sum payable out of the supplementary grant under the Act of 1925 to the said council in respect of the said financial year, and

• (iii) the sum payable out of the additional supplementary grant under the Act of 1931 to the said council in respect of the said financial year, and

• (b) the rate in the pound on that portion of the valuation of all the agricultural land in such county which was specified valuation within the meaning of the Act of 1933 to which the grant payable to such county under the said Act of 1933 is equivalent.

• (2) In this Act, the expression “the primary allowance rate” in relation to any county means the aggregate of the two rates in the pound certified by the Minister under this section in respect of such county.

6 The primary allowance.

6.—Every council of a county shall, in the current financial year, make in accordance with this Act to every person rated in respect of a tenement of agricultural land (being a hereditament or tenement which consists wholly or partly of agricultural land situate within the rating area of such council) an allowance (in this Act referred to as the primary allowance) calculated—

• (a) at the primary allowance rate, and

• (b) on whichever of the following valuations is the lesser, that is to say, the specified valuation of the agricultural land contained in such tenement or the valuation of so much of such agricultural land as is situate within the rating area of such council.

7 The employment allowance.

7.—(1) In this section—

the expression “the qualifying period” means the period which began on the 1st day of April, 1933, and ended on the 31st day of December, 1933, and the expression “adult workman”means a male person who, on the 1st day of April, 1933, was not less than seventeen years of age nor more than seventy years of age and who was not and whose wife was not, at any time during the qualifying period, the rated occupier of agricultural land the valuation or the aggregate of the valuations of which during the qualifying period was equal to or greater than five pounds.

• (2) Where—

• (a) an adult workman was, or two or more adult workmen were each, at work during the whole of the qualifying period on any agricultural land (in this sub-section referred to as the first-mentioned agricultural land) situate in the rating area of the council of a county, and

• (b) the valuation in the current financial year of the first-mentioned agricultural land exceeds the specified valuation of the agricultural land contained in the tenement which contains the first-mentioned agricultural land; and

• (c) the person who is rated for the service of the current financial year in respect of such tenement makes to such council a claim under and in accordance with this section for the allowance hereinafter mentioned,

such council shall make, in accordance with this Act, to such person in respect of each such adult workman an allowance (in this Act referred to as the employment allowance) calculated at the primary rate of allowance and on the amount by which the valuation (in the current financial year) of the first-mentioned agricultural lands exceeds the specified valuation of the agricultural land contained in the tenement which contains the first-mentioned agricultural land, but subject to the overriding limitation that the amount on which the employment allowance is so to be calculated shall not in any case exceed the sum ascertained by multiplying the sum of twelve pounds ten shillings by the number of adult workmen who were at work on the first-mentioned agricultural land during the whole of the qualifying period.

• (3) Where two or more adult workmen were successively at work on any agricultural land during the qualifying period and the respective periods during which such adult workmen were severally so at work are such that at all times during the qualifying period at least one of such adult workmen was at work on such agricultural land and no such adult workman was so at work during the whole of the qualifying period, then and in such case (whether any two or more of the said respective periods do or do not overlap) such two or more adult workmen shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to be one adult workman who was at work on such agricultural land during the whole of the qualifying period.

• (4) Where an adult workman was at work, during the whole of the qualifying period, partly on agricultural land situate in the rating area of the council of a county and partly on agricultural land situate in another county and the same person is rated for the service of the current financial year in respect of all such agricultural land, such person may be granted employment allowance by such council in respect of such adult workman as if such adult workman had, during the whole of the qualifying period, been at work exclusively on the agricultural land situate in the rating area of such council if, but only if, such person had not been granted employment allowance in respect of such adult workman by any other council.

• (5) Every claim for employment allowance under this section shall be made in writing to the council in whose rating area the agricultural land to which such claim relates is situate, and shall be in such form as such council shall require, and shall be sent to such council at such time and in such manner that it is received by such council on or before the 30th day of June, 1934, or such later date (prior to the making of the rate in respect of which such employment allowance is claimed) as such council, with the consent of the Minister, shall fix.

• (6) Every person who makes a claim for employment allowance under this section shall, in addition to the information and particulars contained in such claim, furnish to the council to whom such claim is made all such further or other information and particulars relevant to such claim as shall be demanded of him by such council or any poor rate collector or other officer of such council.

• (7) It shall be the duty of every poor rate collector, if and when so required by the county council by whom he is employed, to examine and check every claim made to such council for employment allowance under this section in relation to agricultural land situate wholly or partly in the area for which he is such rate collector, and to make such inquiries as may be necessary for the purpose of such examination and checking, and to report to such council as to the validity and correctness of every such claim.

• (8) Every doubt, question, and dispute which shall arise, in relation to a claim under this section for employment allowance, or as to whether a person was or was not an adult workman within the meaning of this section or as to whether a person was or was not at work on any particular land, or as to the period during which he was so at work shall be determined by the council to whom such claim is made, and the determination of such doubt, question, or dispute by such council shall be final and conclusive.

• (9) Every person who in or in connection with a claim by himself or another person for employment allowance or for the purpose of obtaining employment allowance for himself or another person makes, after the passing of this Act, any statement which is to his knowledge false or misleading in any material respect shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months.

8 Application of the remainder of the agricultural grant.

8.—(1) In this section, the expression “the remaining valuation” in relation to a tenement of agricultural land (being a hereditament or tenement which consists wholly or partly of agricultural land (in this sub-section referred to as the first-mentioned agricultural land) situate in the rating area of the council of a county) means the amount (if any) by which the valuation of the first-mentioned agricultural land exceeds—

• (a) if no employment allowance is made under this Act in respect of the first-mentioned agricultural land—the specified valuation of the agricultural land contained in such tenement, or

• (b) if any employment allowance is made under this Act in respect of the first-mentioned agricultural land—the aggregate of the specified valuation of the agricultural land contained in such tenement and the valuation upon which such employment allowance was calculated.

• (2) If the portion of the agricultural grant payable under this Act to the council of a county exceeds the amount necessary for making all the primary allowances and employment allowances required by this Act to be made by such council and the payments (if any) required by this Act or by section 50 of the Act of 1898 as applied by this Act to be made by such council to councils of urban districts, such council shall make, in accordance with this Act, to every person rated for the service of the current financial year in respect of a tenement of agricultural land which is situate in the rating area of such council and has a remaining valuation, an allowance (in this Act referred to as the supplementary allowance) calculated on such remaining valuation and at whichever of the following rates is the lesser, that is to say:—

• (a) the primary allowance rate, and

• (b) the rate in the pound on the total amount of the remaining valuations of all such tenements as aforesaid having a remaining valuation to which the sum applicable under this section to the making of supplementary allowances by such council is equivalent.

• (3) If the portion of the agricultural grant payable under this Act to the council of a county exceeds the amount necessary for making all the primary allowances, employment allowances, and supplementary allowances required by this Act to be made by such council and the payments (if any) required by this Act or by section 50 of the Act of 1898 as applied by this Act to be made by such council to councils of urban districts, the said portion of the agricultural grant so payable to such council shall be reduced to the amount so necessary for the making of all the said allowances.

• (4) Whenever the Minister is satisfied that the council of a county has, through bona fide error or mistake, incorrectly fixed the amount of the supplementary allowance to be made by such council under this section, the Minister may authorise such supplementary allowance to be made at the rate so erroneously fixed, and thereupon, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, such supplementary allowance shall be made at the rate so erroneously fixed.

9 Disposal of unapplied balance of grant under the Act of 1933.

9.—Any balance of the grant made to the council of a county or of a scheduled urban district under the Act of 1933 which remained in the hands of such council on the 1st day of April, 1934, and to which section 9 of that Act applies shall, in lieu of being applied in accordance with that section, be divided by such council amongst all the agricultural land in the rating area of such council in proportion to the several specified valuations thereof, and the amount assigned on any such division to any particular agricultural land shall be allowed in accordance with this Act as an abatement from the amount of the poor rate for the service of the current financial year made on such agricultural land or on the tenement in which such agricultural land is included.

10 Provision in, respect of the City of Dublin.

10.—The sum which is payable in the current financial year under section 50 of the Act of 1898 as applied by section 26 of the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1930 (No. 27 of 1930), out of the agricultural grant to the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor. Aldermen, and Burgesses of the City of Dublin shall, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, be sixteen hundred and eighty pounds, thirteen shillings, and six pence.

11 Provisions in relation to urban districts.

11.—(1) Where a portion of the agricultural grant payable to the council of a county is required by virtue of section 50 of the Act of 1898 to be applied by such council in relief of agricultural land in an urban district from rates, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

• (a) the said portion of the said agricultural grant shall not be altered in amount by reason of the increase by virtue of this Act of the amount of the said grant;

• (b) the said portion of the said agricultural grant shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in section 50 of the Act of 1898, be paid by such council directly to the council of such urban district;

• (c) the council of such urban district shall divide the sum so paid to them amongst all the agricultural land in such urban district in proportion to the several valuations thereof and shall allow the amount assigned on such division to any particular agricultural land as an abatement from the amount of the poor rate made for the service of the current financial year on such agricultural land or on the tenement which includes such agricultural land;

• (d) if the rate of the abatement (in this section referred to as the normal rate of abatement) made in any urban district in pursuance of the next preceding paragraph of this section is less than the primary rate of allowance in the county in which such urban district is situate, the council of such urban district shall (subject to the provisions of the next following paragraph of this section) make, in the current financial year in accordance with this Act to every person rated in respect of a tenement of agricultural land in such urban district, an allowance (in this Act referred to as an additional allowance) calculated on the specified valuation of such agricultural land and at a rate equal to the difference between the said normal rate of abatement and the said primary rate of allowance;

• (e) where an additional allowance is required by the next preceding paragraph of this section to be made in respect of any agricultural land, the council of the urban district shall reduce or, where necessary, wholly omit to make the additional allowance where and so far as may be necessary to secure that the difference between the normal rate on land (as hereinafter defined) in such urban district and the rate in the pound of the said additional allowance is not less than one-quarter of the said normal rate on land;

• (f) in this section the expression “normal rate on land” means in relation to any particular urban district, the difference between the total rate in the pound of all rates (including rates other than poor rate) payable in the current financial year in respect of agricultural land in such urban district and the normal rate of abatement in such urban district;

• (g) the council of the county in which an urban district is situate shall pay out of the agricultural grant to the council of such urban district the amount of all additional allowances required by this Act to be made by the council of such urban district in pursuance of this section.

• (2) Every doubt, question, and dispute which shall arise as to the amount of the normal rate on land in any particular urban district shall be determined by the Minister, and the determination of such doubt, question, or dispute by the Minister shall be final and conclusive.

12 Tenements partly in a scheduled urban district.

12.—Where two or more tenements of agricultural land are deemed for the purposes of this Act to form together a single tenement (in this section referred to as the composite tenement), and a portion (in this section referred to as the county portion) of such composite tenement is situate in the rating area of the council of a county, and another portion (in this section referred to as the urban portion) of such composite tenement is situate in the rating area of the council of a scheduled urban district, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

• (a) where the valuation of the county portion is equal to or greater than the specified valuation of the composite tenement, then and in such case, for the purpose of the calculation of the primary allowance to be made to the person rated in respect of the composite tenement by the council of the county in which the county portion is situate and for the purpose of the calculation of the additional allowance to be made to such person by the Council of the scheduled urban district in which the urban portion is situate, the specified valuation of the composite tenement shall be deemed to be wholly within the rating area of the council of such county and wholly outside the rating area of the council of such scheduled urban district;

• (b) where the valuation of the county portion is less than the specified valuation of the composite tenement, then and in such case, for the purpose of the calculation of the primary allowance to be made to the person rated in respect of the composite tenement by the council of the county in which the county portion is situate and for the purpose of the calculation of the additional allowance to be made to such person by the council of the scheduled urban district in which the urban portion is situate, the whole of the county portion shall be deemed to be specified valuation and none of the urban portion shall be or be deemed to be specified valuation;

• (c) where, in any such case as is mentioned in the next preceding paragraph of this section, additional allowances are made by the council of the scheduled urban district in which the urban portion is situate, the council of the county in which the county portion is situate shall make to the person rated in respect of the composite tenement an allowance (in addition to all other allowances made under this Act by such council to such person) calculated at the rate at which the said additional allowances are so made as aforesaid and on the valuation of the urban portion, but subject to the overriding limitation that the valuation on which such allowance is calculated or, where more than one such allowance is made to one person, the aggregate of the valuations on which such allowances are calculated shall not exceed the difference between the specified valuation of the composite tenement and the valuation of the county portion.

13 Methods of making allowances.

13.—(1) Save as is otherwise provided by this section, the allowance or allowances required by this Act to be made by the council of a county or of a scheduled urban district to any person shall be made by means of an abatement (equal to the amount of such allowance or the total of such allowances, as the case may be) of the rates which would, but for such abatement, be payable by such person to such council for the service of the current financial year.

• (2) Every abatement made by the council of a county or of a scheduled urban district to any person in pursuance of this section shall be made in accordance with the following rules, that is to say:—

• (a) where such person is rated by such council in respect of only one tenement of agricultural land, the abatement shall be made on the rates payable by such person in respect of such tenement;

• (b) where such person is rated by such council in respect of two or more tenements of agricultural land, the abatement shall be made, at the option of such council, either—

• (i) on the rates payable by such person in respect of such one of the said tenements as such council shall direct, or

• (ii) in such proportions as such council shall direct on the respective rates payable by such person in respect of the said several tenements;

• (c) in every case (save where the abatement is made by the issue of a credit note), the abatement made on any rates shall be shown on the demand note for those rates.

• (3) The council of a county may, with the sanction of the Minister, decide to make the whole or a particular proportion of the allowances required by this Act to be made by such council by issuing to every person entitled under this Act to any such allowance a credit note declaring him entitled to credit for a sum equal (as the case may require) to the whole or to the said proportion of the allowances to which he is so entitled as against the rates payable by him to such council for the service of the current financial year.

• (4) Where—

• (a) a person is rated in respect of a tenement of agricultural land situate in the rating area of the council of a county, and

• (b) such tenement and a tenement of agricultural land situate in the rating area of the council of a scheduled urban district are deemed to form a single tenement for the purposes of this Act, and

• (c) the aggregate amount of the allowances required by this Act to be made to such person by the council of such county exceeds the amount of the rates payable by such person to such council for the service of the current financial year,

the council of such county shall make so much of such allowances as is equal to the said excess of such allowances over the said rates by means of the issue to such person of a credit note declaring him to be entitled to credit for the amount of such excess as against the rates payable by him to the council of the said scheduled urban district for the service of the current financial year, and the council of such county shall pay to the council of such scheduled urban district the amount of every such credit note which is duly delivered to the council of such scheduled urban district by the person to whom it was issued by the council of such county.

• (5) Where the council of a county is entitled under or required by this Act to make the whole or any particular proportion of an allowance by means of a credit note, such council may, if they so think proper, issue such credit note in two separate parts each of which declares the person to whom it is issued to be entitled to credit for one moiety of the total sum for which such credit note is issued.

• (6) The issue by a council of a credit note may be effected in either of the following ways, that is to say:—

• (a) by delivering such credit note to the person entitled to the allowance made (whether wholly or partly) by the issue thereof or to his lawfully authorised agent, or

• (b) by sending such credit note by post in an envelope addressed to such person at the address in the books of such council for the service of demands for rates made on such person in respect of the tenement to which such credit note relates.

14 Realisation of credit notes.

14.—(1) Every person to whom a credit note (not being a credit note in two separate parts) is issued under this Act declaring him to be entitled to credit as against rates payable by him to the council of a county or of an urban district for the service of the current financial year and who has, before the end of the current financial year or such later date as such council, with the consent of the Minister, shall fix, paid all such rates, shall be entitled, on delivering such credit note to such council, to be repaid by such council so much of the said rates so paid by him as is equal to the amount of such credit note.

• (2) Every person to whom a credit note in two separate parts is issued under this Act declaring him to be entitled to credit as against rates payable by him to the council of a county or of an urban district for the service of the current financial year shall—

• (a) on paying, before the end of the current financial year or such later date as such council, with the consent of the Minister, shall fix, the first moiety of such rates and delivering the first part of such credit note to such council, be entitled to be repaid by such council so much of the said moiety of the said rates so paid by him as is equal to one moiety of the total sum for which such credit note was issued, and

• (b) on paying, before the end of the current financial year or such later date as such council, with the consent of the Minister, shall fix, the second moiety of such rates and delivering the second part of such credit note to such council, be entitled to be repaid by such council so much of the said moiety of the said rates so paid by him as is equal to one moiety of the total sum for which such credit note was issued.

15 Application of Local Government (Rates on Small Dwellings) Act, 1928.

15.—(1) For the purposes of section 6 of the Local Government (Rates on Small Dwellings) Act, 1928 (No. 4 of 1928) (in this section referred to as the said Act), and for the purposes of that section as applied by section 9 of the said Act, the amount of any rate to which the said Act applies made on a person entitled to an allowance or allowances under this Act in respect of such rate shall be deemed to be the difference between the actual amount of such rate and the amount of such allowance or the total amount of such allowances, as the case may be.

• (2) Whenever a rating authority as defined by the said Act is the owner of a small dwelling within the meaning of the said Act, this Act shall apply to such rating authority in relation to such small dwelling as if such rating authority were a person on whom a rate was made by such rating authority in respect of such small dwelling for the service of the current financial year and the rates so deemed to have been made were paid by such rating authority on or before the end of the current financial year.

• (3) The receipt by any person of an allowance under this Act shall not disentitle him to the benefit of the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 10 of the said Act if and so far as those provisions apply to him.

16 Amendment of rates.

16.—(1) The secretary of the council of a county or the town clerk of a scheduled urban district may from time to time amend any rate or assessment made for the service of the current financial year on any tenement of agricultural land in any rate book kept by such council by inserting in such rate book the name of any person who ought to have been rated or by raising or reducing in such rate book the sum at which a person has been rated or by altering in such rate book the amount of any allowance made under this Act or by making such other amendment in such rate book as will make such rate or assessment conformable to the provisions of any Act for the time being in force in regard to the making of such rate or assessment.

• (2) Every person aggrieved by an amendment made under this section in any rate or assessment shall have the same right of appeal from such amendment as he would have had if his name had been originally inserted in the said rate or assessment and no such alteration had been made therein, and as regards such person the rate shall be deemed to have been made at the time at which he received notice of such amendment.

17 Directions and instructions by the Minister.

17.—(1) The Minister may give to the councils of counties and to the councils of urban districts or to any such council such general or particular directions or instructions in relation to the carrying of this Act into execution as shall appear to the Minister to be necessary or proper for securing or facilitating the execution of this Act.

• (2) Every direction or instruction given by the Minister before the passing of this Act which if given after such passing would have been authorised by the foregoing sub-section of this section shall be deemed to have been given under the authority of that sub-section.

• (3) It shall be the duty of every council of a county or of an urban district to comply with every direction and instruction given or deemed to have been given by the Minister under this section to such council, and every act done (whether before or after the passing of this Act) by any such council in pursuance of any such direction or instruction shall be deemed to have been done or to be done under the authority of this Act and shall have and (if done before the passing of this Act) be deemed always to have had effect accordingly.

• (4) Every act done by the council of a county or an urban district before and in anticipation of the passing of this Act shall have and be deemed always to have had all such (if any) validity and effect as it would have had if this Act had been in force when such act was done.

18 Calculation of allowances.

18.—In calculating for the purposes of this Act the amount of any allowance, any fraction of a penny less than a halfpenny shall be disregarded and any fraction of a penny equal to or greater than a halfpenny shall be reckoned as a penny.

19 Expenses of the Minister.

19.—All expenses incurred by the Minister in the execution of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of money provided by the Oireachtas.

20 Short title and commencement.

20.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1935.

• (2) This Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on and shall have effect as on and from the 1st day of April, 1934.

FIRST SCHEDULE. Urban Districts in which Act Applies.

Arklow,

Athy,

Ballina,

Buncrana,

Bundoran,

Carrickmacross,

Castlebar,

Castleblayney,

Cavan,

Howth,

Longford,

Macroom,

Mallow,

Midleton,

Monaghan,

Naas,

Nenagh,

Passage West,

Skibbereen,

Tipperary,

Tullamore,

Westport.

SECOND SCHEDULE. Allocation of Agricultural Grant.

County Council.	Amount of Grant.	Amount of Grant.	Amount of Grant.
	£	s.	d.
Carlow	33,591	10	0
Cavan	62,442	10	0
Clare	91,668	10	0
Cork	238,805	10	0
Donegal	81,398	10	0
Dublin	61,509	16	6
Galway	116,454	10	0
Kerry	93,072	0	0
Kildare	50,268	10	0
Kilkenny	76,426	0	0
Laoighis	50,161	0	0
Leitrim	38,705	10	0
Limerick	116,859	0	0
Longford	34,229	0	0
Louth	42,651	10	0
Mayo	94,111	0	0
Meath	82,888	10	0
Monaghan	51,766	10	0
Offaly	49,656	10	0
Roscommon	67,943	0	0
Sligo	51,358	10	0
Tipperary N.R	59,410	0	0
Tipperary S.R	83,194	0	0
Waterford	57,155	0	0
Westmeath	55,632	0	0
Wexford	80,969	0	0
Wicklow	45,993	10	0