§ MR. KENNYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If, of the 17 Sub-Commissions under "The Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881," 7 are in Ulster and the remaining 10 distributed amongst the other three provinces; viz. 4 in Connaught, 4 in Munster, and 2 in Leinster, there is any special reason for the great partiality shown to Ulster in this respect; if the County of Derry, with an area of 522,315 acres and a population of 164,991, has a Sub-Commission entirely to itself, while the Counties of Clare and Limerick, with an area of 1,508,836 and an aggregate population of 322,089, have but one Sub-Commission to serve for both; whether he is aware that many applications to fix fair rents have been pending in Clare County for over 12 months, and with no immediate prospect of being disposed of; and, whether, if these circumstances are as stated, he is prepared to recommend the appointment of a special Sub-Commission for the County of Clare?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, the distribution of Sub-Commissions according to Provinces is correctly stated; but it was made, not according to the area and population of districts, which would be a very fallacious guide, but according to the amount of business to be done. The number of applications to have fair rents fixed, which remained undisposed of when the Circuits were arranged in January were, in Ulster 24,146, and in the other three Provinces combined 1900 29,859. The allocation of seven Sub-Commissions to Ulster does not, therefore, appear to show any partiality towards that Province. The number of cases pending in Londonderry, which the hon. Member specially named for comparison, as having a Commission to itself, is 2,369; while the number pending in Clare and Limerick together, which also have only one Commission, is 2,573. It is true that many applications have been pending in Clare for more than 12 months; but there will be three sittings of the Sub-Commission before the middle of next month, and 475 cases are listed for hearing. The Commissioners are not satisfied with the rate of progress in Clare, and hope after the close of the present Circuits, in April, to be able to make arrangements to expedite it.