7 / /' S E L E C T C O M M I T T E E ON F I C T I T I O U S V O T E S , I R E L A N D . 205 ~ V 11460. Chairman.'] Did he produce the lease before that Committee ?— No; Mr. E. Rooney. he produced nothing but notes taken at the registry. ' - 11461. Did Lawrence Murtagh, or any person on his behalf, produce his 25 May 1838. lease before the Committee ?— No. 11462. Was it not proved that he was served with a notice on the 15th February, the Committee sitting at the end of April, to produce that lease ?— Yes. 11463. But still he did not produce it?— He did not produce it. 11464. Did you and Thomas Bracken go together to value that farm ?— Yes, I think we were together on this particular farm. 11465. Did you always agree with him in all his calculations ?— We never joined in our calculations at all. 11466. And never compared them afterwards ?— No, that was the instructions we got from the legal persons who advised us. 11467. Did he give the same evidence as to value that you have given ?— I do not know; I dare say he did. 11468. Were you present at the time?— No. 11469. Did he not state the farm was worth 2 /. 8 s. an acre ?— Yes. 11470. And that it would bring a shilling or two over that ?— Yes. 11471. But your opinion is, it would be from 2 I. 2 I. to 2/. 55. an acre?— Yes ; that is the value I took at the time, but he knew nothing of that, and I know nothing of what he valued it at. 11472. What is Mr. Thomas Bracken ?—- He was a farmer and land agent. 11473. Was he a surveyor?— No; he was agent of some land and receiver of rents, and had been a good deal brought up in the farming way, I understand. 11474. He had more experience than you had ?— Yes, he had more experience certainly; I think so. 11475. And you state this house to be in very good repair ?— I do not state the house to be in very good repair ; the note I took was, " a good house and offices." 11476. Was it, or not, in good repair?— I dare say; I saw both houses. 11477. Was or not> in good repair?— It is so long since I was on the land, I cannot answer that question correctly. 11478. Mr. Lefroy.] You say that Mr. Bracken had more experience in valu- ing land than yourself?— I should think he had. 11479. What was Bracken's experience as a farmer?— He had for 15 or 20 years held over 20 acres of land himself; he had also received rents, and was agent for Mr. Calhoun, who held a good deal of land ; his father was a farmer, I understand, and he was reared as a farmer, so that he had experience of land all his life, I understand, more or less. 11480. What is your own experience of land?— I was only farming a large quantity of land four or five years. 11481. What quantity of land ?— Between 90 and 100 acres. 11482. About what time did you farm that land?— About the year 1830 or 1831, or four or five years after that ; I do not know correctly the time I left it. 11483. Was it in Longford ?— Yes, near Ballymahon. 11484. Whose land was it?— Mr. Shuldam's. 11485. Did you hold that land till you left Longford?— No, not for some months ; I do not know exactly how long; I held it as long as the lease lasted, until I was turned out of it for want of title. 11486. Why?— The title was extinct, the life had dropt in the lease. 11487. May I ask how much an acre you paid for that land?— I paid two guineas an acre. 11488. And was it in consequence of giving up that land you left Longford? — Indeed it was principally from having to give it up ; I should not have given it up, but I was obliged. 11489. Did you make any proposal to renew the lease?— Indeed I did, and I would not be accepted as a tenant. 11490. Mr. Shuldam would not accept you as a tenant?— He would not, and it has been idle ever since ; he has had it in his own hands ever since, the same land. 11491. Did you pay your rent for that land punctually?— I did, and I had money to get out of it when I left it, therefore I must have been a good tenant.^ 11492. But that was all your farming experience, your holding that land?— Principally. 11493." Did you hold it all your own hands?— I did, and improved it very much; I left it a great deal better than I got it. 643. " D D 3 H494- Mr. Curry.]