SELECT COMMITTEE ON FICTITIOUS VOTES, IRELAND. 4,> 9 course of registration before Mr. Gibson, and the same course was nursueH P- A J n / before Mr. Howley : suppose what I call a Liberal claimant appealed upon the " table: as soon as sworn, his title- deed was produced. I put the question to 17 July 1 him, How long have you been in possession ? He stated so and so. 15281. Unless you feel all this is relevant to my question, I do not feel that it is so; the simple question is, whether Mr. Gibson, in respect to the ascer- tainment of the value of the farm, adopted the same principles as his prede- cessors ?— He did. 1 15282. Exactly ?— Yes, upon general principles, he adopted the same course. 15283. Then his predecessors, did they or did they not charge the claimant with the value of the labour in cultivating the farm ?— His predecessors, where the matter was brought before them by analysis 15284. Did they charge the man with the value of his own labour, or the labour of his family bestowed upon the farm ?— Generally speaking, they did. 15285. Did Mr. Gibson do the same thing ?— Mr. Gibson generally set off the support of the family against the labour. 15286. He set off the support of the family against the labour?— Yes. 15287. Was that the way in which his predecessors took the account?— His predecessors, when the matter was entered into, generally made the same allowance as to the support of the family. 15288. Then whenever the question of labour bestowed by the claimant upon the farm was entered into, they, in like manner, set off the support of the family against the labour ?— Yes. 15289. But in no other manner did they or Mr. Gibson charge the la Dour expended upon the farm ?— Not that I recollect; I recollect that, in one case, in which Mr. William Wallace was examined, he valued the labour at about 50s. an acre, and then the straw from the produce of the land was set off against the labour; that was a case before Mr. Gibson; so that, in fact, I well recollect myself thus far, that Mr. Gibson not only took into account the support of the family, but also the straw was generally set off against the labour by him, and his predecessors observed the same rule. 15290. Was that against the man's own labour and that of his family, or against the labour of others whom he employed ?— The general labour in the cultivation of the farm; and, as I have mentioned before, although not conver- sant with agricultural matters, I believe the general practice in Ireland is to set off the straw against the labour; I must say this, and I can say it very dis- tinctly, that when an analysis was resorted to, their answer was, the value set upon the straw as an element of calculation, so many barrels of potatoes, the marketable price of them ; so many barrels of wheat, the marketable price of them ; so many barrels of oats or barley, the marketable price of them; but the straw of the wheat; oats or barley was never taken as an ingredient into that calculation, consequently it was implied that the straw and labour were an equipoise to each other. 15291. Mr. O'Connell.] That was only in the case of corn land?— The land in the King's County generally is of an arable nature; corn fields ; there is a portion of bog. 15292. Mr. Lefroy.] Whether the farm was a tillage farm or grazing farm, it equally supported the man's family ?— Clearly. 15293. For the support of the family in the case of a grazing farm, there would be no set off for straw ?— No, but you will take with you that 111 that case the value of the farm, if I may use the expression, was more ostensible or more palpable than in the case of a tillage farm. 15294. Mr. Curry.] Requiring less labour, of course?— Yes, less labour; consequently the labour was not an element in the calculation at all, perhaps. 15295. Mr. Lefroy.'] How, in that case, did Mr. Gibson and his predecessors estimate the franchise ; in the case of a grazing farm ?— I must say there were few or no cases of that description; the mode of estimating with regard to commonage, and that perhaps is pertinent to the matter, was, How many col- lops have you where your cattle are supported during the summer season r 1 he 643. 3 G 3 claimant