HC Deb 22 August 1895 vol 36 cc563-4
MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, will he explain why the County Court Judges have not been requested to follow the procedure to be adopted by the Land Commission, and postpone judgments in pending land cases until the promised Land Act is passed next Session; will the Court of Appeal in Ireland be asked to postpone its judgments in similar cases; and at what date will the practice of postponing judgments commence, and for how long will it continue?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

The hon. and learned Member appears to be labouring under a misapprehension No request has been made by me to the Land Commission to adopt a particular course of procedure. I merely asked from the Commissioners an expression of their opinion on certain points, and I received from Mr. Justice Bewley an answer, the substance of which I have already communicated to the House. That being so, I hardly see that the hon. and learned Member's question calls for further reply.

MR. T. M. HEALY

I understood that it was stated yesterday [Ministerial cries of "Order!"] that it would be proper for the County Court Judges——

* MR. SPEAKER

Order, order!

MR. T. M. HEALY

Did not the right hon. Gentleman state on Tuesday that it would be proper for the County Court Judges to embody the procedure of the Land Commission; and, therefore, why should not the Court of Appeal, of which Lord Ashbourne, a Member of the present Government, is the head?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

Put in that form, the question is a purely polemical one, which I am not in a position to answer. [Cheers.]