§ MR. EDWARD CARSON (Dublin University)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of of Ireland if he could state to the House what was the amount of the instalments payable upon the last gale day by tenant purchasers under the Irish Land purchase Acts; and how much has been already paid, and what sum is now in 157 arrear? And whether in any case, and, if so, to what amount, it has been necessary to resort to the landlord's guarantee deposit?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe amount of instalments which fell due upon May 1st last in respect of advances under the Land Purchase Act of 1885 was £206,828, of which £185,294 had been received up to the 24th ultimo. Under the Act of 1891 a sum of £33,833 became payable in respect of instalments on May 1st, and of this sum £32,939 had been received to the 24th ultimo. It is not possible for the Commissioners to anticipate what loss, if any, may occur on the resale of holdings from which it may be necessary to dispossess the original purchasers, for obviously it may be anticipated that in occasional cases some loss will be incurred. There are over 20,000 purchasers at present on the books of the Commission, from whom purchase instalments are receivable. During the last year in 51 cases the holdings of purchasers who made default in payment of instalments were advertised for sale. In 36 of these cases the arrears were paid before the date advertised for the sale. In seven cases the holdings were sold to ordinary purchasers. In two cases the holdings were bought in by the former landlord. In none of these cases has any loss occurred. In the remaining six cases there were no bidders, and the holdings are at present in the hands of the Land Commission, pending resale. This information is collected from materials already at the Irish Office. There has not been sufficient time to obtain, a report from the Land Commission, bringing the information up to the present date, or to enable me to answer the concluding inquiry in my hon. and learned Friend's question.