§ MR. FFRENCH (Wexford, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware 1230 that several evictions have been recently carried out on the estate of the Marquess of Ely, in the barony of Shelbourne, South Wexford, five of which occurred the week before last; that the agent of the property is reported in the local papers to have admitted the tenants were utterly penniless; and that the past, year was the most disastrous to the tenant farmers of South Wexford within the memory of the present generation; and whether, in view of further threatened evictions on the estate and probable disturbances, he will inquire into the ability of the tenants to pay the rents charged on this estate, and consider the propriety of advising Lord Ely, as was done by the right hon. Baronet the Member for West Bristol, when Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in a similar case, to stay evictions during the present agricultural depression?
MR. J. MORLEYNine tenants were recently evicted on the estate referred to, and of these two were readmitted as caretakers on the date of eviction. It does not appear, so I am told, that the agent is reported in the local Press to have used the language imputed in the question. With regard to the conclusion of the question, I can only say that the. Government has no means of exerting any influence for the purpose suggested by the hon. Gentleman.