ON PETITIONS RELATING TO LIMERICK TAXATION. 73 / renewed on potatoes, and disputes would again originate between the farmers and the toll gatherers. ' ' v Have you struck off the tax on potatoes entirely ?— Entirely. You stated, that in the case of one gentleman of considerable fortune, who ob- jected to the toll, and considered that, as a freeman of the city, he had a right to go toll free, that the Chamber of Commerce did not intend to purchase any corn from him ?— No ; I said that the farmers themselves did not object to it; but some gen- tlemen who happened to be freemen of the corporation, thought it unreasonable that they should lose the benefit of their freedom, but that would only relieve them from gateage, for they would not have a right, by their being freemen, to pass free of toll; and we just told them, that we would not buy their corn if they did not pay the commutation. The Chamber of Commerce held out that as a threat to those who would not pay the toll ?— - I do not mean to say as a threat; but it is an explanation of the origin of our agreement with the corporation ; if Lord Gort were present, I am sure he would confirm what I say, that it is looked upon as a public benefit to the country, and that it Hid not originate with us; it was suggested to us by the late chamberlain of the corporation. Was the arrangement that you entered into with the farmers, an arrangement upon which the farmers themselves gave any opinion, or upon which they were consulted ; was it an arbitrary one?— We informed them of our having made such an agree- ment with the corporation for one year, and the purposes for which it was made, and it was received universally by the farmers with approbation ; many of them expressed how much better pleased they were to have this deduction made from them by the buyers of the corn, than to have the name of being free from toll and custom for what they sold for exportation, and to be continually quarrelling with the toll• gatherers, and going before the mayor, and also, they were greatly pleased to have their potatoes quite free of toll, and the inhabitants of the city hailed it as a benefit to them; in fact, you may well suppose that if it was not looked upon as a public benefit, it never could have continued from year to year without any objection being made. You were understood to say, that you only made the farmers acquainted with the resolution you had formed, and that they acquiesced in that for a year, and that they had not made any complaint against it since, in consequence of which you consider that they perfectly acquiesce in the whole of it?— Yes. Was it part of the original agreement with the corporation, that you should not take any toll upon potatoes?— Most assuredly it was. Was that in the specific arrangement made with the corporation as the condition of your taking the tolls?— We informed them of our intention to do so; it originated entirely with that article; we requested them to take off the toll on potatoes, they declined that, and they proposed to us to take the whole tolls from them, and do as we pleased with them. When they refused to do so, were not the tolls let ?— They were; and we pro- posed to make good to them what they might be obliged to refund to their tenant. Do you know the plot of ground upon which the Linen Hall is built ?— I do, very well. Is any portion of that ground in the hands of the Chamber of Commerce, except the spot upon which the Linen Hall stands?— No, not in our hands ; there is a large piece of ground in the rear of it belonging to a gentleman near Nenagh, for which we paid him 20/. by the year, to assist in holding an oat market on our wheat market days, when the wheat market was too full, and we applied to the chamber- lain of the corporation, requesting them to widen the passage by taking down some old houses of theirs from the present legal com market to that ground, with which he complied, and some of those houses have been taken down. There were some houses taken down from that property?— Yes. Do you know the whole extent of land there that belongs to the corporation ?— I do not. It is a very small plot on which the Linen Hall stands, is it not?— The plot of ground on which the Linen Hall stands, is only 150 feet by 25, if I recollect right, and the corporation very liberally gave us that at a nominal rent of in conse- quence of our informing them that we were going to lay out our own money in build- ing a linen hall, in addition to 300/. granted us as a presentment by the county grand jury. S J * U Was