§ MR. JOHN MORLEY (Newcastle-upon-Tyne)I wish to ask the right 400 hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland a Question with reference to the Eviction Returns before the Recess. In cases of proceedings under the Act of 1887, as the House knows, the tenant, on receipt of the notice, becomes a caretaker, and if he is put out of his holding I understand that that is not technically an eviction. I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman, whether he will take care that the putting out of tenants who have thus been reduced to the status of caretaker will figure in future Eviction Returns?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)Yes, Sir; the whole question of these Eviction Returns requires careful revision. I do not know any set of statistics more utterly deceptive, or that lead to more erroneous conclusions, than those eviction statistics which have been laid upon the Table since the time of the late Mr. Forester. The new Act necessitates some changes of form; and I am going into the whole subject, and will do my best to see that the particulars that the right hon. Gentleman asks for shall be given on the face of the Returns.