§ MR. POWER (Waterford, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Land Commission have received an application for an advance from a person named Thomas Whelan to enable him to purchase a holding at Ballinafina, in County Waterford (in the Carrick-on-Suir Poor Law Union); what is the amount of the advance applied for; is it the case that the applicant for the advance was not in occupation of the holding proposed to be purchased at the time he signed the agreement to purchase, and therefore is not one of those persons to whom the 1217 provisions of the Land Purchase Acts apply, and whether the Inspector of the Land Commission has yet visited the holding in question, and what Report has he made as to the solvency and bona fides of the applicant; and whether the Land Commission have up to the present either sanctioned or refused the application for an advance?
MR. J. MORLEYThe reply to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. The amount of the advance applied for was £1,000. The Land Commissioners inform me that the applicant was in occupation of the holding under a contract of tenancy at the time he signed the agreement to purchase, and was a person to whom the provisions of the Laud Purchase Acts apply. The holding has been inspected by an Inspector of the Laud Commission, and the Inspector reported that the tenant was in occupation, and residing on the holding, and had adequate stock and means. The advance applied for was sanctioned upon the 29th of May.
§ MR. KILBRIDE (Kerry, S.)What was the former rent of the holding? The farm has been derelict for 14 years.
MR. J. MORLEYI cannot say. There was an eviction on the farm 12 years ago, and it was taken again last February, but I do not know what the rent was.