/ f i j SELECT COMMITTEE ON FICTITIOUS VOTES, IRELAND. ,77 I should suppose that we conceived it to be worth ck I • th-,* ,' n * v o • ui of the town ; we were more liberal as we went ot to'" he s bur s ^ ^ , , ^ u y 4059. In that case, then, the abatement was between 13 and 14 per cent.?- 4060. In the outer parts of the town, what abatement did you make there " 8 ^^ ,838' ifTo i 1 hen, onv the local fct we valued ver- vfe" houses bet- e 5 /. that we met with! excel - made was, that we valued every pubUc- house 4061 What abatement upon the real value did you make, with reference to those public- houses, in your valuation?— I cannot tell; we allowed some perhaps as high as 50 per cent.; we may have valued a house that was worth 10/ at 4062. Do you mean to say that you never valued any house at 5 /. that was not worth 5/. '— Certainly not; and a great deal more. 4063. In estimating houses to be of the value of 5 I, did you make any abate- ment ot the real value?— Any house in the whole district, of which we conceived the extreme value was 5 /., we did not value at all. 4064. Supposing the extreme value was 61., would you value it?— In some cases we may have done so, but in most cases we did not. 4065.^ If a house was valued at 7 I. of real value, would you put that in? We would, just the same as 6/.; but we passed over hundreds'of houses worth 10/. a year. 4066. And you thought that when you passed over hundreds of houses worth 10/. a year, you were fulfilling the solemn obligation of the oath by which you were bound to ascertain distinctly the yearly value of each house within the city?— Certainly ; we did what all preceding valuation juries did ; we had 110 object but justice. 4067. You conceived it consistent with justice to make this sort of relative scale, differing for the centre of the town from that for the exterior part?— Certainly we did ; we conceive it is always done. 4068. And that is the way in which the whole of the city of Cork has been valued ?— Certainly. 4069. In no instance did the valuators ascertain the real value of the houses?— In some instances we did ; we ascertained what was the value of a house in a street. 4070. Will you state that you ascertained the value of any one bouse in any one street, except the first one that you mentioned in your valuation of 1828? We certainly did ; we would not be such fools, 14 ot' us, as to go and value a house without some data ; we ascertained the value, of one house in a street, but we did not ascertain the value of every house. 4071. Did you enter every house that you valued ?— Certainly we did, back and front, that we could get into. 4072. What was the use of your entering every house if you did not put a value upon it?— To satisfy ourselves whether we should value it, and if so, what valuation; bccause a house may not be of the value of 5 I., and there may be a back place of the value of 1 /. or 2 I. That was one of the most equitable valua- tions that there ever was in Cork. 4073. It was a valuation by which you, as a sworn valuator, would stand or fall?— Certainly. If we erred at all, it was in giving too great effect to the local Act towards the poor. 4074. Do you mean that you were too severe ?— No, the other way. I he object of the local Act, or what we conceived the object of the local Act, was to exempt th 407^ And therefore you did not conceive it part of your duty to ascertain the real value of individual premises ?- We endeavoured to ascertain the value of every house as well as we could, and to put a relative value upon it 4076. But you cannot state what deduction from the real value you put down in the books?- I cannot; in some cases it did not amount to 10 or 15 per cent., and in other cases 50 per cent. . . , p i: 4077. That you conceive was carrying out the intentions of the Act of Parl. a ment?— It was always done before. f pari- 4078. Did you consider that as carrying out the purposesofthAtofParha ment, and a fulfilment of the oath which you took as a valuator ?- Cei ta. nly, under the local Act of Parliament innp what steps did vou take to ascertain 4070. In your recent valuation in I air- lane, w hat steps uiu yu the valie of those houses of which you have spoken r- W e endeavoured to ascer^ 0.46. A A