Land Bond Act, 1925

Creation and redemption of 4½ per cent. Land Bonds.

3.—The Principal Act shall be construed and have effect and be deemed always to have had effect as if the following section were inserted therein in lieu of the section 1 now contained therein, that is to say:—

“1.—(1) In order to provide for the payment of the sums which under this Act are to be paid in bonds, the Minister for Finance shall have power to create and issue, when and as required for the purpose, bonds to be called 4½ per cent. Land Bonds, of such denominations (not in any case less than one pound) as the Minister may determine.

(2) The bonds shall bear interest at the rate of 4½ per cent. per annum on the nominal amount thereof payable in British currency by equal half-yearly instalments at such times in each year as may be fixed by the Regulations under which they are issued.

(3) The bonds shall be redeemable at par in British currency together with the payment of all arrears of interest, and the Minister for Finance shall make arrangements for the redemption thereof within eighty years from the 18th day of December, 1924, by means of yearly or half-yearly drawings and the said Minister may make regulations for the drawing of such bonds. Such regulations shall provide for the immediate redemption of bonds transferred by order of the Judicial Commissioner in satisfaction of Death Duties, or in redemption of land purchase annuities charged on the lands acquired by the Land Commission under this Act:

Provided that any bonds may at any time after the expiration of thirty years from the issue thereof, if not previously redeemed, be redeemed at par at such time and either by drawings or otherwise as the Minister for Finance may direct.

(4) The interest on the land bonds and the sums required for redemption of land bonds in accordance with the provisions of this section shall be paid out of the Land Bond Fund established under this Act, and if the same shall be insufficient shall be charged upon and paid out of the Central Fund of Saorstát Eireann or the growing produce thereof as a first charge thereon after any charges created before the passing of this Act. Any sums so paid out of the Central Fund shall be treated as a temporary advance to the Land Bond Fund, and shall be made good out of the Guarantee Fund.

(5) For the purpose of the redemption of the bonds there shall be set aside in the Land Bond Fund at the close of every half-year ending on the 1st day of May, or the 1st day of November until all the bonds issued under this Act have been redeemed the following sums, that is to say:—

(a) a sum equivalent to two and three-eights per cent. on all sums advanced or paid by the issue of land bonds under this Act up to the close of the previous half-year and not certified by the Minister for Finance to have been repaid, together with, where the land bonds were issued on the last day of the previous half-year, a sum calculated at the rate of 4¾ per cent. per annum for the period from the close of the half-year up to the next following dividend day, and

(b) a sum calculated at the rate of four and three-quarters per cent. per annum on all sums advanced or paid by the issue of land bonds under this Act since the beginning of such half-year and not certified by the Minister for Finance to have been repaid, such sum being so calculated for the period from the date of issue of the bond up to the dividend day next after the end of such half-year, and

(c) all sums paid during such half-year by tenant-purchasers in redemption of purchase annuities payable under this Act, and

(d) every sum paid during such half-year in cash by a purchaser on the sale to him by the Land Commission of any land vested in them under this Act.

The sums so set aside at the close of any half-year shall be subject to the following deductions, that is to say:—

(e) the amount of the interest payable on the next dividend day in respect of all bonds so issued and not redeemed up to the end of such half-year, and

(f) the amount, if any, required for the payment off of all bonds which under this Act were transferred during that half-year by order of the Judicial Commissioner in satisfaction of Death Duties or in redemption of land purchase annuities, and

(g) the amount of any advance made from the Guarantee Fund during such half-year for payment of interest on land bonds issued on or after the last day of the previous half-year and before the dividend day accruing in the first-mentioned half-year for the period between such issue and such dividend day.

The sum required for the redemption of bonds on any yearly or half-yearly drawing shall be the total amount of all sums set aside under this sub-section (less by the deductions aforesaid) since the next previous drawing together with such interest as shall be prescribed by regulations made under this Act.”