§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Monaghan, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a large number of the tenantry on the Templeton and Hope estates in the Castleblaney Union, have had applications to have a fair rent fixed listed for hearing by the Land Sub-Commission for nearly two years, and which have not yet been heard; whether he is aware that the landlords of these estates are issuing ejectments against these tenants, with the purpose of depriving them of the right to have fair rents fixed; and whether he will cause the Land Commission to promptly afford facilities for hearing the cases of these tenants?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Land Commissioners report that there are 15 cases on the Hope estate and 207 cases on the Templeton estate remaining undisposed of, and which were received at their offices before January 1, 1888. A Sub-Commission sat in Castleblaney last 1656 May, and disposed of all the applications from that Union received up to October 29, 1887. A Sub-Commission has been sitting continuously in County Monaghan since last September, and will continue to sit after the vacation, taking up the cases in the Castleblaney district in their turn. The Commissioners anticipate that if the Judicial Rent (Ireland) Bill, recently introduced, become law this Session, the outstanding cases will be disposed of with much greater expedition than is now possible under the existing system, where a hearing in Court is requisite for numerous cases in which the only question to be decided is that of the value of the land, which could be best ascertained on the spot without the necessity of the parties attending the Court. I understand that no ejectments are being issued on these estates, and that no attempt has been made to deprive the tenants of their right to have fair rents fixed.