- v / / S E L E C T C O M M I T T E E O N F I C T I T I O U S V O T E S , I R E L A N D . 293 successful employment of that capital ?— Yes, I should suppose from the emnlov- 1 w r r * ment of his capital. v J Jonv ^ ^ 13149. And therefore it cannot be said to be an interest in the land, but a benefit which might be made out of the land by the employment of capital upon 8 June l838- it?— Yes, by the employment of capital and labour. 13150. And therefore, in truth, making the capital and the labour, jointly with the land, the source of that species of beneficial interest?— I consider it so. 13151. Mr. Curry.] Must not every solvent tenant who comes to take a farm, and is able to pay 10/. a year for it more than the rent the occupying tenant pays, take into consideration what the farm will produce, he employing a proper degree of capital and labour upon it ?— 1 think he must take into consideration everything connected with the culture of that farm. 13152. And without the land as a means of employing his capital and labour, he could not make a beneficial interest to any extent, if he had not the land to work upon ?— If he had not the land to work upon he would have no interest at all. 13153- Then do you not think the land itself is a material ingredient in calcu- lating the beneficial interest ?— The land must be considered, for the land is the source from which you draw your interest, whatever it is. 13154. Chairman.] Not the land alone, but various other circumstances must be taken into consideration before you can arrive at a just result?— You must take the labour of the individual, you must take the capital he employs; that labour may be a very contingent qualification; it may depend upon his bodily strength and a hundred things. 13155. Mr. Curry.] But according to the extent of capital employed upon the farm, supposing the soil to be equally productive, the farm which is best laboured upon, with most capital, is that which will produce the greatest quantity of pro- duce ?— I should think so. 13156. Mr. Lefroy.] Does anything occur to you that would be an improve- ment in the mode of proceeding for the purpose ot registering, that would facilitate the ascertainment more correctly of the value ; I mean the calling of the lists from the divisions ; do you think it would be an advantage to have the claimants coming from the same part of the country called together rather than called alphabetically; by townlands for instance, so as to have the investigation carried on, with respect to the same part of the country, together, and for the greater facility of having wit- nesses to examine into all the cases that come from the same quarter?— I think it very desirable to have them examined as near to the place of residence as possible. 13157. Chairman.] Do you conceive the alphabetical list or the townland list to be the best?— I conceive the townland list would be the best. 13158. Mr. Lefroy.] And in the tounland list you might have an alphabetical list ?— Yes. 13159. So that you would attain the two objects?— Yes, the alphabetical list is totally useless; you call a man, for instance, whose name begins with the letter B, and that man may reside at an immense distance from the next man. 13160. Then you think it would be an improvement to call them by townlands or districts, according to the locality, and not merely alphabetically ?— Yes, I think so. 13161. Do you not think the registering court, holding four sessions for registering, produces a great deal of agitation in the county, and is in itself a mischievous thing, and unnecessary ?— 1 can only state what occurred when I was revising barrister ; I think from the political agitation there was in Ireland, when- ever there is a registry in the county that is severely contested, there always will be serious agitation. The county of Longford I consider to be altogether in a state of convulsion arising from elections. 13162. Chairman.] Do you conceive also it is a bad thing to put a great mass of persons on the registry at once?— I cannot see any evil, except bringing all those persons together to the town. 13163. Do you think it tends to putting on persons who have no right to be upon the register, the fact of their " being registered for seven or eight years, instead of one year only?— I think that ought to be corrected; I think it is too long a period. . 13164. Then is it your opinion there should be an annual registry, so tnat any person might be objected to, under proper restrictions, once a year, but there should not' be a quarterly registry ?— I have always thought an annual registry would be a verv good measure, and that, at all events, the barrister should have 643. " r P 3 the