§ MR. D. MACALEESE (Monaghan, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) if he is aware that copies of orders or agreements fixing fair rents and schedules under section one of the Land Act of 1896 cannot be procured out of the office of the Land Commission under from five or six weeks from the date of bespeaking and paying for same, and whether in order to prevent such delay a sufficient additional staff of copying clerks will be appointed; (2) whether his attention has been called to the rule of the Land Commission under which, in the event of both landlord and tenant appealing, each of them has to lodge a certificate of valuation, the fee for which is 2s. 6d. per rating, and whether steps will 1215 be taken to prevent this expense by providing that, in the case of cross appeals, the notice last lodged will he endorsed, and the party on whose behalf the cross appeal has been served saved the expense of procuring a document already in the possession of the Commissioners; and (3) whether it is intended to appoint any and, if so, how many additional Sub-Commissioners to deal with the large number of cases still unheard in the Land Courts?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURAs a rule, all requisitions for copies of the documents referred to in the first paragraph are complied with in from two to three weeks. Where this period is exceeded the delay is almost invariably caused by the applicants not having given sufficient information to enable particular cases to be identified. No addition to the copying staff is called for. The Rule mentioned in the second paragraph was made by the Commissioners after careful consideration. I express no opinion on the merits of the Rule, but I will draw the attention of the Commissioners to the suggestion of the hon. Member. As regards the third paragraph, eight additional lay Assistant Commissioners have been appointed within the past week.