. ,46 Mr. Richard Gould. MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE 411 < Was it your principle to include in the valuation houses that you believed to be of the value of 8/., provided they were occupied by the owner ot the house ? — We had no fixed principle ; I conceive there are very tew houses of the value ot i8 February 1838. g, tj) at u. ere valued by us then. . 4116 Is that because they were, generally speaking, not occupied by the owners ' or for any other reason?— What I meant to say was, that there are very few houses, solely occupied by the owners, worth 8/., that we valued. We valued very few houses worth from 5/. to 10/. 411 - Did you intentionally pass over houses that were ot the value ot 8/., pro- vided they were inhabited by the owners?— We did not do anything intentionally; we followed the guide that we had, and we exercised our own judgment; and we had no object in view but that of justice. We may have passed houses. 4118. What do you mean when you say that you did not do anything intention- ally ? Surelv you must have had some principle to guide you in the valuation. Was it the principle guiding that valuation to pass over houses that you believed to be of the value of 8/., if they were occupied by the owner?— We had no fixed principle; but if the house was solely occupied by the owner, and worth 8/., I rake it that we would value that house. 4119. Do you think you did so accordingly ?— I dare say we did in some cases, but in many cases we did not. 4120. Would you think it acting fairly between man and man, and towards the inhabitants of Cork generally, to act in that way, charging one man who was the occupier of a house worth 8/. per annum, and exempting another man who was the occupier of a house just as good worth 8/. per annum?— We would not make that inequality. If we valued a house of one person that we conceived worth 8 I., solely occupied by him, and we found another house of equal value solely occupied by another owner, we would not value one and pass the other. 4121. That being the case, can you have any doubt that you did, generallv speaking, as the rule that governed you, include in your valuation those that were occupiers and owners of houses worth 81.?— Not all; because we did not go to the extreme rent at all. We may value one house at 8 /., and it is possible that another house in the same neighbourhood may be as valuable, and we may value one and not the other; but, generally speaking, we passed few houses, that were solely occupied by the owners, of that value. 4122. Did you pass any of them intentionally ?— I do not know whether we did or not. We did it conscientiously; but my own opinion is, that we may have passed some. 4123. Do you mean that you may have done it accidentally, or that you did it 011 purpose?— I do not think we did it on purpose. 4124. Then you did not intentionally pass over any houses of the value of 8/., solely occupied by the owner ?— I do not know that we did many ; we did none intentionally. 4125. Did you intentionally omit from your valuation houses of the value of 7/. a year, and which were solely occupied by the owner?— I think 71, would be going too close; but I could not say that we did pass many houses of 7/. a year. ° 4126. Intentionally?— Intentionally, for we passed no house except inten- tionally. 4127. Then your impression is, that the rule that governed your valuation was, to pass by all houses that, you estimated at the value of 7/., even though they were in the occupation of the owners?— I think so; we valued very few houses solely occupied by the owner of the extreme value of 7/. 4128. Did you intend to, value any that were so circumstanced ?— We entered into no resolution about it; we did not value any place up to the rent. 4129. Are the Committee to understand that you had a fixed rule guiding you? — I he object was to have a relative valuation ; and if we valued a house of 8/. a year belonging to one man, and we found another house equally valuable belonging to another, we would value both. & 4130. Though they were in your judgment worth only 7 /. ?— I cannot say ; we may or may not. - 4i3\- 2. Can you say whether you intended to do it? did you intend to omit in value