§ MR. CHANCE (Kilkenny, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, since the passing of "The Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1887," any applications by leaseholders were heard for that part of County Kilkenny which is in the Union of Waterford; whether notices of application by leaseholders from that district, entered before 29th September, 1887, are still unheard; whether the landlords, in those cases, have exacted the unreduced rents from which relief was sought; and, whether tenants, whose lands are valued at more than £50, have any protection from the execution 1349 of writs of fieri facias for the recovery of their unreduced rents?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Land Commissioners report that there are at present 56 applications in leasehold cases to fix judicial rents outstanding in that part of the Union of Waterford in the County of Kilkenny. Of these, 45 were received before and 11 since the 29th of September, 1887. No leasehold cases for the district referred to have yet been heard, as it was necessary to hear a large number of applications in respect of yearly tenancies which had been earlier received. A Sub-Commission is at present sitting in the County Kilkenny, and will, it is proposed, continue its sittings there after the vacation, taking the Waterford Union in its turn. The Commissioners are unaware whether the landlords in the cases referred to have, since the date of the tenants' applications to have judicial rents fixed, exacted the former rents from which relief was sought; but if so, and if these rents are reduced when the judicial rents are fixed, the landlords will have, pursuant to the 5th section of the Land Law Act, 1887, to allow to their tenants the difference between the amount received and the judicial rent for the period which has elapsed since the date of the tenant's application. It has been decided by the Queen's Bench Division that in the case where a tenant's holding or holdings is or are valued at more than £50 a year, the Court has not jurisdiction under the 30th section of the Act of 1887 to stay execution of writs of fieri facias.