HC Deb 06 August 1896 vol 43 cc1677-8
MR. J. P. FARRELL (Cavan, W.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, can he state the number of eviction notices, under the Seventh section of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1887, which have been served in Cavan County since the passage of that Act; in how many cases were tenants whose tenancies were so deter" mined readmitted as caretakers, future tenants, and present tenants; and in how many cases were the holdings left derelict, and the tenants wholly dispossessed after service of these notices; and, can he state the number of County Cavan estates now pending sale in the Land Judges or Land Commission Courts?

THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, Central

The number of eviction notices under Section 7 of the Act of 1887 served in County Cavan between the date of the passing of the Act and the 30th June, 1896, was 2,842. But in 452 cases only were the notices followed by actual eviction proceedings. I have already more than once explained that Government has no effective means at its disposal of obtaining reliable, or even approximately reliable, information as to the numbers of tenants restored as either "present" or "future" "tenants, but I am told that out of the 452 cases of actual eviction proceedings to which I have referred, the tenants were readmitted in 257 cases, either as caretakers or tenants, leaving only 195 cases in which the holdings were left derelict and the tenants wholly dispossessed in the period mentioned. The police have no records to show what has been done in the 2,390 cases in which eviction proceedings did not follow the service of notices, but it may be assumed that in the great majority of these cases settlements were arrived at between landlord and tenant. The statistics of the Land Judge's Court do not enable the Registrar to state the number of estates for sale in that Court according to counties. There are six estates from the county, in which sale proceedings are now pending in the Land Commission Court.