The Congested Districts Board was founded under the authority of Section 34 of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, to continue for twenty years, “and thereafter until Parliament shall otherwise determine.” It was given power (Section 39) to aid migration and emigration within a congested districts county, to sell suitable seed potatoes and seed oats to occupiers, to aid and develop agriculture, forestry, the breeding of live stock and poultry, weaving, spinning, fishing (including the construction of piers and harbours, the supply of fishing boats and gear, and industries connected with fishing), and any other suitable industries. Powers were also given for the enlargement of holdings whether subject to purchase annuities, or to rents to private owners, but these powers were so circumscribed and guarded, as to be unworkable. The Board was granted an income to commence with of £41,250 a year. In 1893 an Act was passed (56 & 57 Vic., c. 35) which gave the Board power to acquire land and to hold it as landlords for the enlargement of holdings and for the purpose of the Land Purchase Acts. In 1894 another Act was passed which enabled the Board to give to the Land Commission, on selling to a tenant purchaser, a guarantee for the repayment of the annuity. Such guarantee enabled the Land Commission to dispense with their retention of any sum out of the purchase money as a guarantee deposit, a practice which, if followed, would have seriously crippled the operations of the Board. The Land Law Act of 1896 gave power to the Board to obtain an advance from the Land Commission for the purchase of estates “in like manner as if the Board were a tenant purchasing his holding.” This Act contained some provisions that greatly hampered the Board. Thus an advance could not be obtained by a tenant valued at under £10 for the repurchase of his holding from the Board. Also Section 40 (2) enabled Court tenants and temporary tenants to obtain advances under the Purchase Acts in the case of sales of estates under the section in the Land Judges’ Court. This meant that the lands that were most required by the Board for the Relief of Congestion were commonly disposed of to graziers and others. The Congested Districts Act of 1899 cleared away these two obstacles to the work of the Board, and also enabled the Land Commission to make advances for the redemption of head rents and other “superior interests,” and increased the Parliamentary Grant from £6,500 to £25,000. The Congested Districts Board Act of 1901 gave a limited power of dealing with obstructive tenants in the rearrangement of the estates purchased. It also gave the Board all the powers of entry on a holding subject to a statutory tenancy for the purposes of mining, quarrying, cutting timber or turf, opening or making roads, fences, drains, and water-courses, hunting, fishing, shooting, etc., given to the landlord by Section 5 (subsection 5) of the Act of