§ MR. McCARTANI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state the number of holdings in county Down and county Antrim, respectively, the tenants of which are now entitled to make application to have rents fixed for the second judicial term; whether any new Sub-Commissioners have been recently appointed; and, whether he will state when he is likely to appoint such a 361 number of Sub-Commissioners as will be able to cope with the work before them?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURIn the county of Antrim there were 2,597 and in the county of Down there were 4,030 applications to fix fair rents made to the Land Commission before the termination of the first occasion on which the Court sat after the passing of the Land Act of 1881, and in nearly all of these cases the applications were recorded pursuant to the 60th Section of that Act. Tenants who had judicial rents fixed in recorded cases would, in the ordinary course, be now entitled to apply to the Court to have fair rents fixed for a second statutory term. Up to the present, applications to fix a fair rent for the second statutory term have been made to the Land Commission in only two cases in the county Antrim, and in 24 cases in the county Down. No new Sub-Commissioners have recently been appointed, nor is it in contemplation to appoint any until the necessity arises.