The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-14 00:00:00

mission :

" Encumbered Estates Commission
Henrietta-street Dublin, day 3.

_
" My Lord,—We have the honour to inform your Ex-
cellency that, on the 19th ult., we caused twu returns to
be transmitted to the office of the Secretary of State for
Ireland in pursuance of a requisition of the House of
Commons. _ _

" Those returns are necessarily very voluminous, as
they contain a detailed account of the proceedings of the
Encumbered Estates Commission down to the 31st of
March, 1851. We think it right, therefore, in addition
to those returns, to submit the following brief report to
your Excellency.
" On the 25th of October, 1849, this court was opened
for public business.
" The total number of petitions presented up to the
31st of March, 1851, is 1,676.
"Upwards of one-half of the estates brought into our
court were under Chancery receivers, and i❑ 147 cases
the proprietors had taken the benefit of the Insolvent
Debtors' Act.

" The number of petitions filed by owners is 319, or
about one-fifth of the total number presented up to the
date above-mentioned. Several petitions, however, pre-
sented in the names of encumbrancers, appear to have
bean so presented at the instance of the owners.
" The total number of Court orders (not including a
vast number issued by each Commissioner in chamber) is
5,413, viz.:—
"Conditional orders for sale ... 1,240
" Absolute orders for sale ... 1,036
" Miscellaneous orders ... 3,137
" The gross total of the rentals, as sot out in the
petitions to 31st of March, 1851, is 1,036,9751. 1 ls. Bd.,
but the actual amount would probably not exceed
850,0001., as in some cases more than one petition has
been presented for the sale of the same estate; and the
rentals attached to the petitions frequently exceed the
true rentals of the estates.
"The gross total of the encumbrances, as set out in
the petitions filed to 31st of March, 1851, is
17,971,3211. ls. ld. But several ot those encumbrances
being judgments, and other securities collateral with
mortgages and the like, are returned in duplicate in
the schedule, and in this way mentioned twice; and it
sometimes happens, that the same encumbrance affecting
the estates ot different owners is mentioned in more
than one petition.

" As to estates sold:—
" The number of estates sold to March 31, 1851, is
253; the total acreage of which, statute measure, is
227,329 A. 3u. 34P. Of this the quantity of arable land
may be about 210,000 acres, or nearly one-sixty-fifth of
the arable land of Ireland, which is estimated in the
latest Poor-law returns to be 13,464,300 acres.
" The rental of estates sold to March 31, 1851, is
107,707/. 15s. ld., or about 120th of the net annual
poor-law valuation of Ireland.
" The total amount of encumbrances on estates sold
to March 31, 18.51, as taken from the schedules lodged
with the petitions, is 4,086,1921. 13s. 4d.; but, as before
mentioned, several of these encumbrances are returned
in duplicate.
"The total amount of purchase-money for estates sold
to March 31, 1851, is 1.350,616/. Os. 4d. Of this amount
94,4041. 13s. 4d., or about one-fifteenth part, has been
allowed in payment of encumbrancers, who became pur-
chasers.
" The Commissioners have paid out to creditors and
claimants up to this date, 3d day of May inclusive, the
sum of 838,3561 Os. ld.
"The 253 estates sold to March 31, 1851, have been
disposed of to 587 purchasers, nearly one-half of whom
are purchasers of lots that sold respectively for sums not
exceeding 1,000/.
"Property to the amount of about 160,0001. has been
acquired by English or Scotch purchasers (about 30 in
number), as far as can be collected from their addressee,
stated in the deeds of conveyance.
. . _

" Estates have sold best in Antrim, Down, Meath,
Westmeath, Tyrone, and Dublin, and at lowest rates in
Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, and Mayo. In the latter
counties the rents reserved are generally so dispropor-
tional to the value as to afford no true measure of th©
income derivable out of the lands; and the heavy poor-
law taxation in the same districts has added to the de-
preciation of value, but a progressive, though slow, im-
provement in the sales is manifest even in those counties.
"As to the rates of purchase generally, it is falla-
cious to estimate the number of years from the published
rentals, which usually represent the rents of 1845 and
previous years, and which, in many instances, were even
then excessive, and far beyond any sums that could pos-
sibly be collected from the tenants. Besides,
cupying tenantry of many estates sold in this court
owed several years' arrears of rent to the former owners,
wuers,
and much of the land had been exhausted thec'e.
unre-
claimed and devoid of suitable farm-buildingse—ay
outlay
state cf
things which would necessarily require a nsT
by the incoming purchasers.
" The Commissioners are of opinion
that it would be
most desirable to authorise them,
1n fit
and proper cases,
all arrears of rent due
to sell (together with the estate)
at the time of the sale.

"We Wive, &C.,
" JOHN RICHARDS,
" MOUNTEFORT LONGFIELD.
" CHARLES JAMES HARGREAVE.
" To his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant."

THE GODIVA PHOCESSION.—We understand that
the committee for the management of the procession at the
ensuing great fair in this city, in June next, have conclu-
sively determined to have the " event" celebrated on the
Tuesday. It is also satisfactory to know that every effort
will be made to secure the representation of the principal
character in such a manner as to disarm the most fastidious
objectors, except those who are opposed to processional
'howl of all de§cription4 whatsoever..4oventry Verald.