§ MR. TUITEasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been directed to the injustice inflicted upon the tenant farmers of Westmeath by reason of their being obliged to go to Dublin to have their appeal cases heard before the Chief Commissioners of the Land Court; whether tenants of every kind are being 1537 brought to Dublin to have their cases tried, and that it must necessarily happen that the poorer class are totally unable to bear the expense of bringing their solicitor, valuer, and other witnesses up, where in all probability they would have to keep them for a few days; whether, in consequence of this, a large number of poor tenants are being obliged to settle with their landlords upon worse terms than they would be fairly entitled to from the Court; and, whether, having regard to the above facts, and that Mullingar, the Assize town of the county, is only 50 miles from the Metropolis, he will direct the Chief Commissioner to proceed to Mullingar for the purpose of hearing the appeals now pending?
THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY)The Land Commissioners report that Section 47 of the Land Law Act enables them to determine any appeal in Dublin, or, at their discretion, to proceed to any place in Ireland for the purpose of determining appeals. They have arranged their sittings in the country, so as to afford the utmost possible convenience to suitors, and with that object have sat in the most remote places; but it is absolutely impracticable for them to comply with every request made to them as to where their Court shall be held. Their sittings for the present year have been arranged and advertised, and cannot now be altered. They sit in 21 different districts in Ireland, and as they must be in Dublin every alternate week for administrative business they hear appeals from the Province of Leinster during that week, and thus press on their business with the greatest possible despatch. A separate sitting at Mullingar could not be held.