§ MR. M'CARTAN (Down, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he has received a copy of a resolution unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Newtownards Farmers' Association on the 8th instant, to the effect that the delay in appointing Sub-Commissioners for County Down required the immediate attention of the Chief Commission: whether, considering that some 560 thousands of farmers in the County of Down did in October last serve notices of applications to hare fair rents fixed, and that these farmers are entitled to the benefit of the reduction on the six months' rent due at November last, he will now arrange to have a Sub-Commission appointed to hold sittings in County Down without further delay; and, whether it is a fact that the Sub-Commission presided over by Mr. R. R. Kane, B.L., was removed from County Down owing to pressure brought by the landlords of the county upon the Lord Lieutenant, whose own tenants in that county had also applied to the Land Commission to have fair rents fixed.
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN)(who replied) said (Kent, Isle of Thanet)The copy of the Resolution has been received. It is, doubtless, inconvenient for both landlord and tenant that a sitting cannot be held in the County Down before next April to define their respective rights. The Land Commission have been again communicated with on the subject; and they state that all the sittings of Sub-Commissions have been arranged up to the end of April, the Down one being fixed for the 4th of that month. His Excellency authorizes me to state that he has in no wise interfered with the discretion of the Land Commissioners, and he adds that but few of his tenants have gone into Court. Since entering the House I have received the following telegram—
Sub-Commission No. 1 worked in County Down all December, and finished December list of cases by delivering decisions on 25th January.