§ MR. HEALYasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether every yearly tenant in Ireland has, under the present Law, full power to sell his interest in his farm; whether he can convey to any person he pleases all his rights in his holdings by deed or writing; whether the only check on this right is the landlord's power of eviction or rent raising, which may be as freely exercised on the tenant himself as on any purchaser from him; whether, if the landlord wishes to exercise this power against the purchaser, he must not terminate the tenancy by notice to quit, as if he were 1666 dealing with the tenant himself; and, whether the purchaser, if evicted, has not equal rights with the tenant himself under the Land Act of 1870, save as restricted by section 13 thereof?
MR. GLADSTONEIn answer to the hon. Gentleman, I am advised that unless a tenant holds under a written contract which prohibits assignment, he has the power. This is a question which could be better discussed when the hon. Gentleman proposes the repeal of the 13th section of the Land Act—a proposal which we are not indisposed to entertain.