§ MR. J. NOLAN (Louth, N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Is it true that 11 tenants on the estate of R. T. Hamilton, esquire, ex-Local Government Board Inspector, at Corononagh, County Armagh, have been evicted for non-payment of a year and a-half's rent, which was fixed by judicial agreement in 1883, but not registered by the landlord; whether Mr. Kisbey, County Court Judge, twice stayed the execution of the eviction decrees, once at Ballybot in 1887 and once at Markethill in 1888, pending the production by the landlord of certificates of registration; were the certificates eventually produced; and, if 434 not, why was the execution of the decrees permitted; and, where former settlements have not been registered, can tenants enter the Land Court to have fair rents fixed?
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN) (Dublin University)(who replied) said: The Land Commissioners report that on the estate referred to 43 statutory agreements between landlord and tenant were lodged during the months of November and December, 1884, all of which were filed in due course in the Land Commission, and others in subsequent years, but none were lodged in 1883. They have no means of knowing whether any agreements were entered into between the landlord and his tenants which have not been forwarded to them to be lodged and filed. I am informed that at Ballybot Quarter Sessions, in 1887, some of this landlord's cases were adjourned for one day for the production of certificates of fair rents. At the adjournment any of the cases in which the certificate could not be produced were dismissed, save one adjourned to Armagh, and subsequently dismissed. The Commissioners state that where an agreement has not been filed it does not form an absolute bar to the fixing of a fair rent; but if still capable of being filed the case would probably be adjourned for that purpose.