§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether any of the ten millions voted for land purchase under the Purchase Acts of 1885 and 1888 still remains unissued; what the amount of the advances sanctioned under the Act of 1891 up to the present date is; and, how much of the last-mentioned advances are now represented by guaranteed land stock and how much by consols?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOUROf the £10,000,000 voted for land purchase under the Land Purchase Acts of 1885 and 1888 the sum of £9,979,220 has 596 been issued; the sum of £20,780 still unissued comprises applications to the amount of about £10,000 which have not yet been either sanctioned or refused, while the remainder represents offers which have been made to the Land Judge for the purchase of estates for sale in his Court, but where the purchase has not yet been finally completed. Loans amounting to £2,683,805 have been sanctioned under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, up to June 30th last. Of the amount so sanctioned loans amounting to £2,479,064 guaranteed land stock have up to this date been issued under the last-mentioned Act, and, with the exception of a small sum—about £2,300—that has been cancelled, the entire of this stock is in existence. The National Debt Commissioners, however, hold £1,558,862 of this stock, which has been exchanged for an equal nominal amount of consols as provided by section 15 (2) of the Act of 1891.