§ MR. E. F. VESEY KNOXI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury—(1) whether purchasers under the Irish Land Act of 1870 are prohibited from devising their holdings by will to their children without the consent of the Board of Works; (2) whether the Board raises any objection to the succession of the son where the purchaser dies intestate; (3) whether in the case of Robert Grier, who made his will in 1880, devising his lands to his sons, and immediately applied for the consent of the Board, the Board have declared that there is a forfeiture because Grier died before the consent was obtained; and (4) whether, under the circumstances, he will order the forfeiture to be waived without the payment of a fine?
§ SIR J. T. HIBBERTThe answer to the first paragraph of my hon. Friend's question is—yes, under Section 44 of the Act of 1870, unless a declaration has been issued at the request of the purchaser by the Board under Section 30 of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881, removing the restrictions of the first-mentioned section except as regards subdivision and sub-letting. The answer to the second paragraph is—no, where the succession relates to the eldest son. As regards the case referred to in the third and fourth paragraphs, the Treasury have already authorised that the forfeitures may be waived. No fine was imposed, but the present occupants of the holdings were required to pay the legal expenses entailed by the procedure necessary to release the forfeitures.