§ MR. PINKERTON (Galway)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord 712 Lieutenant of Ireland whether be is aware that a number of appeals from fair rents fixed by the County Antrim Sub-Commission at Larne in May 1885 were only listed for hearing at the last sitting of the Chief Commission in Belfast en 27th May 1889; whether he is aware that the revised list for that sitting contained 179 cases, and, notwithstanding that a considerable number had been settled, the Court concluded its sitting on reaching Appeal No. 108, thereby leaving upwards of 70 cases unheard, and that the farmers concerned in these unheard cases were put to great expense and inconvenience by having to attend with their witnesses for several days before they were told that their cases would not then be heard; whether arrangements will be made not to list a greater number of cases than the Commission can dispose of at a sitting; and when the Chief Commission will next sit in Belfast?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Land Commissioners report that the appeal list alluded to contained 179 appeals, of which 38 were cross-appeals, reducing the number to 141. Of these 35 were in respect of cases in which the decisions of the Sub Commissions were delivered in 1885, but the list comprises all appeals from the county Antrim in respect of decisions by the Courts below up to the last day of Apri1, 1888, and of the 70 cases which the Appeal Court was unable to hear during the week appointed for the sitting in Belfast, 10 only are in respect of decisions by the Court below delivered prior to the year 1888. In consequence of what occurred on the occasion referred to at Belfast, and at previous sittings, the Commissioners have recently had under consideration the question of revising their rules with regard to appeals, as they have experienced very great difficulty in settling their appeal lists, owing to the conduct of the appellants, some of whom lodge appeals without any bonâ fide intention of prosecuting, while others fail to notify to the Commissioners the settlement of cases in respect of which they have lodged appeals. A notice has been printed, and will shortly be issued by the Commissioners, stating conditions with which appellants will in future be required to comply, and which they anticipate will facilitate the hearing of appeals.