§ MR. MACALEESEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether the Land Commission have declined to divide the, annuity payable to them by a tenant purchaser on a property in the county Monaghan, to whom they granted permission to acquire a portion of a holding sold under the Land Purchase Act; and, if so, what security will this purchaser have that he will not be made liable for the entire instalments should there be default on the part of the other purchasers?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURSufficient information is not contained in the question to enable the case specially referred to by Mr. Macaleese to be identified. The Land Commission has no power to apportion a purchase annuity payable under the Land Purchase Acts, save for the purpose of amalgamating small holdings in a congested district, 1219 and this is explained in every case when they consent to a sub-division of a purchased holding for the purposes of sale or otherwise. There is, however, nothing to prevent the parties arranging among themselves for contribution to the Land Purchase Annuity and mutual indemnity in the event of default being made by either party, but the Commissioners can take no cognizance of such arrangement.