§ MR. T. J. CONDON (Tipperary, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the attention of the Irish Government has been called to the excitement caused in the County Tipperary by an attempt of 1260 Lord Lismore to enclose Cullenagh Mountain, and forcibly interfere with the rights on the mountain exercised from time immemorial by the tenants on the Lismore estate; and whether, having regard to the danger thus threatened to the public peace, the Government will take steps to prevent this interference with old established rights of the tenants, either by refusing police assistance in turning sheep and cattle off the mountain, or by introducing a short Act amending the Land Law Act, 1896, section 9, by giving to the tenant the right of election at any time, whether he will or will not exercise the casement previously enjoyed by him by the permission of the landlord as of right during a statutory term?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURIt appears that for a number of years past Lord Lismore let this mountain to his tenants for the grazing of their sheep at the rate of 8d. per head per annum, and that recently notices were served on the tenants that in March next the grazing would be taken up on behalf of the landlord. The service of these notices has been followed by several outrages, of which I would mention two, namely the malicious killing of eleven sheep the property of Lady Chartern in November last—the motive for this outrage being that some sheep had been sold by her to Lord Lismore—and the malicious destruction on the 18th instant of about 1,400 yards of wire fencing and wooden posts, which had been erected by Lord Lismore on the mountain referred to. The question of the ownership of the mountain or of the alleged rights of the tenants, is not one in which the Government can intervene, but they are bound to preserve the peace and prevent any breaches of the law, and this duty they will perform in any eventuality. It is not the intention of the Government to legislate in the direction suggested.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANCan the right hon. Gentleman say how long these grazing rights had existed?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURNo, Sir, I have no information upon that point.