HC Deb 17 November 1893 vol 18 cc1139-40
MR. M'CARTAN (Down, S.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to the cases of land purchase on the estate of Lady Wallace, near Lisburn, which came before Mr. Justice Bewley on the 24th July last, whether any further inquiry has been made in the matter; whether the Laud Commission Court has sanctioned the sales in the cases where the late Mr. Commissioner M'Carthy refused to approve of as being excessive the amount of purchase money mentioned in the agreements, Lady Wallace's solicitor prepared new agreements for lesser amounts, and the tenants were obliged to pay to the landlord without the knowledge of the Court the differences in the amounts mentioned in the two agreements; whether this payment lessened the value of the security to the Land Commission; and whether in such of these cases already approved of the Commissioners have considered the justice of reducing the annuities charged on the basis that the whole of the purchase money was to be advanced by the State?

MR. J. MORLEY

I am informed that in the cases in which the Land Commission discovered that the prices of the holdings were in excess of the sums stated in the agreements, and that cash payments had been made by the tenants, the Commissioners rescinded the Order sanctioning the advance except where the holdings had already been vested. In these latter cases the vendor was required to lodge in Court the cash paid by the tenant, and this has been, or will be, distributed to the persons entitled. No change could be made in the annuities payable by the purchasers except in two cases where the tenant's cash payment was more than one-fourth of the price. In these, the guarantee deposit has been released for distribution, and the direction given that the annuity payable by the tenant-purchaser shall be collected at the rate of £3 17s. 6d. instead of £4 per £100. In three cases where the orders of sanction were rescinded because of the cash payment by the tenant being suppressed, new agreements stating the consideration correctly were lodged, and the Commissioner having made further inquiries and satisfied himself that the cash payment did not imperil the security for the advance, sanctioned the loans applied for. Another case of a similar nature is under consideration.