§ MR. KENNYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he will state why the arrangement so long existing of one Sub-Com- 1009 missioner under "The Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881," for Clare county has been departed from; if he will state the number of cases pending in Clare county at the present time, and also in the county of Limerick; and, if he will state in how many instances within the past two years has the number of cases sent down to Clare for hearing been disposed of on the first occasion of their being set down for hearing?
§ MR. TREVELYANThe Land Commissioners have sent me the following Report with regard to this matter:—
A Sub-Commission was allotted to Clare singly when the number of cases awaiting trial in that county appeared to the Commissioners to require such an arrangement. When a considerable proportion of the Clare cases had been disposed of, the Commissioners, having to consider the claims of other counties and the total number of Sub-Commissions at their disposal, found it necessary to place Clare and Limerick under the same Sub-Commission. The number of cases pending in Clare on the 31st of January was 727, and in Limerick 254. The Commissioners are unable to give the number of instances in the past two years in which the entire list sent down to the Clare Sub-Commission was disposed of—probably in very few. It is necessary, lest the time of a Sub-Commission should not be fully occupied, as well as to provide for cases that may be settled out of Court, that a longer list should be sent down for every sitting than at first sight might seem requisite.