§ MR. M'CARTAN (Down, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the decision of the Land Commission at Belfast, on Thursday last, in the appeal of John Storey, a tenant on the estate of Lord O'Neill, wherein the majority of the Commissioners decided to dismiss the tenant's application to have a fair rent fixed, on the ground of sub-letting a cabin to a cotter at l0d. a week; whether he is aware that Mr. Commissioner O'Brien considered the sub-letting so trivial that it ought not to have been taken into account, and stated that if such sub-lettings excluded tenants from getting fair rents fixed, more than half of the farmers of Ulster would be excluded; and whether he will consider what steps can be taken to secure to such tenants the advantages of the Land Acts?
MR. J. MORLEYI am informed that the case referred to was decided by the Land Commissioners on the construction and effect of the 4th section of the Land Act of 1887, and that leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal was applied for and granted.
§ MR. M'CARTANWas not the application for leave to appeal made on behalf of the landlord and not of the tenant?
§ MR. SEXTON (Kerry, N.)But the appeal on the initiative of the landlord will not enable the tenant to raise the point he desires. Will the right hon. Gentleman consider the possibility of enabling this point of law to be raised on behalf of the tenant?