DR. McDONNELL (Queen's County, Leix)I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether, since the publication of the last Report of the Loan Fund Board, Lord de Vesci has made any further offer in settlement of the very serious claim disclosed in the correspondence printed in that Report; in view of the fact that it appears from the correspondence that his father, the late Lord de Vesci, being, as trustee of the Abbeyleix Loan Fund, in possession of two sums of £887 18s. 11d. and £1,488, which had been duly appropriated for the charitable purposes of erecting labourers' cottages and a fever hospital, spent the money in erecting buildings on lands held from himself on yearly tenancy or on short leasehold; that, although his agent undertook that this land should be conveyed to trustees for the perpetual benefit of the poor, this undertaking was never carried out; and that the present Lord de Vesci claims to deal with the buildings as his own property; whether, if no settlement has been arrived at, Mr. Attorney General will proceed ex officio in the Chancery Division against the legal personal representative of the late Lord do Vesci?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.Since the date of the Report referred to there has been some further correspondence between Lord de Vesci and the Loan Fund Board in reference to this matter. I have applied for but have not yet obtained a copy of this correspondence. If the hon. Member would 1032 kindly postpone his Question till Tuesday next I hope to be then able to answer it.