§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W.)On behalf of the hon. Member for North Wexford, Mr. THOMAS HEALY, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—(1) if he is aware that a Sheriff's sale is announced to take place on the 18th instant on the holding of Mr. Harold Lett, of Kilgibbon, in the county of Wexford, for half-a-year's rent due to Captain Philip Alcock, which only accrued due on 1st November last; (2) if he is aware that the rent on Mr. Lett's holding was increased by the landlord, in the year 1866, from £82 to £200, the increased letting value being the result of a large expenditure of money by the tenant and his predecessors in title; and that the rent of £200 was reduced by the Land Commission to £124, which includes £7 10s. a year for buildings erected by the tenant's predecessor out of his own money, though, at the hearing, the landlord was unable to show that he expended a penny on buildings on the holding; (3) is he further aware that an application by Mr. Lett to Captain Alcock for a reduction of the £7 10s., which is fixed on the buildings, was refused, as was also a request for time for payment until the 21st instant; and (4) whether, in the promised Land Bill, he, will insert provisions protecting tenants from being rented on their own improvements, and providing that all improvements shall be deemed to have been made by the tenant unless the landlord is able to prove the contrary?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI am informed that the amount of the writ in this case was one year's rent, with costs, though it appears probable this included the half-year's hanging gale, not payable in ordinary circumstances till May next. I am not in a position to confirm the alleged increase in the rent of the holding in 1866, or the accuracy of the 1345 grounds assigned for the increased letting value; but I understand that, in 1887, the rent was fixed by the Land Commissioners at £124, which included a sum of £7 10s. as rent of the dwelling-house on the farm. I have not been able to obtain information to enable me to answer the third paragraph. At the sale announced to take place yesterday, the tenant, Mr. Lett, paid the amount of the writ, and the proceedings are consequently at an end. With regard to the fourth paragraph, I can only repeat that I cannot make any statement in reference to the provisions of the Land Bill prior to its introduction.