§ MR. MAHONY (Meath, N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the Land Commission has lately refused to advance money to the tenants for the purchase of their holdings on the estates of the Marquis of Lansdowne, Mr. S. M. Hussey, and Mr. Taaffe; and, if so, whether he can state the number of years' purchase which the tenants in each case had agreed to pay, and the grounds on which the Commissioners refused to make the advances asked for?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH) (Bristol, W.)It is quite true that the Land Commissioners have declined to sanction the loans applied for in the case of four holdings out of several on the estate of Mr. Hussey, and that they have refused the proposed terms in the case of two tenants on the estate of the Marquess of Lansdowne. They have also been unable to agree to the terms proposed for the purchase of the Taaffe estate, and they have communicated their reasons for doing so to the solicitors acting for the tenants. In taking these steps the Land Commissioners have exercised the discretion vested in them by Act of Parliament, and I cannot state their reasons.