Purchase Rate of Rate of Rate of Number of Act. Annuity. Interest Sinking years comprised Fund payable. in comprised Annuity. in Annuity. 1881 5 3-½ 1-½ 35 1885 4 3-1/8 7/8 49 1891 4 2-¾ 1-¼ 49 1896 As in Act 73 of 1891, subject to decadal reduction. 1903 3-¼ 2-¾ ½ 68-½ 1909 3-½ 3 ½ 65-½ Part II. The Statutes Relating to the Relief of Congestion in Ireland. Two Classes of Occupiers in Ireland—Establishment of the Congested Districts Board Most of the earlier Statutes which have been summarised in the first part of this chapter deal with the rights and obligations of Irish Tenants without any attempt at Economic discrimination. No distinction was drawn between the occupiers of uneconomic holdings and those who were able to make a living and pay a rent out of their farms. Some slight recognition of the fact that the smaller tenants had a special claim to protection was shown by the Compensation for Disturbance Clause (Section 3) of the Act of 1870, which enacted that a tenant of a holding valued at £10 or under might be awarded a sum not exceeding seven years’ rent, while a tenant above £100 Valuation could not in any case receive more than one year’s rent. Beyond that, however, nothing was done. It took many years to get the Irish Administration to understand that something more than “Fixity of Tenure” was necessary if the periodical famines and endemic misery of the poorer occupiers of the West and South of Ireland were to be fought successfully. It was, however, finally recognised that, in many parts of the country, the average character of the holdings was below the level which is necessary in order to make a reasonable standard of living possible, and it was then resolved to adopt special means to meet the evil. The establishment of the Congested Districts Board in 1891 was the outcome of this resolve. It was the first attempt made to discriminate by legislation between the two great classes of Irish occupiers, namely, those whose holdings were capable of affording a means of livelihood and of paying a rent; and those who were so impoverished as to be incapable of supporting themselves without assistance from outside.