§ MR. JOHN DILLON (Mayo, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) how many tenants on the Warden Estate at Sneem, in the County of Kerry, have lost their rights under the Land Acts through proceedings instituted against them for arrears of rent; (2) whether he is aware that an eviction decree was obtained at the late Kerry Assizes against a tenant on the Warden property named O'Sullivan because he gave shelter to an evicted tenant named Neill, that this is the third time that Neill has been evicted, and that the poor rates in the division have been raised 30 per cent, owing to the large number of evictions; (3) whether his attention has been directed to the result of the late election of a Poor Law Guardian for the district, in which Mr. Warden was defeated by 98 votes to 19; and (4) whether, in view of the serious condition of the district, the Irish Government will remonstrate with Mr. Warden with regard to the treatment of his tenants?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (MR. GERALD BALFOUR, Leeds,1515 Central) The Government has no information on the subject of the first paragraph, and no effective means of obtaining it. It is the fact that an eviction decree was recently obtained against O'Sullivan, but according to the information before me, every other statement in the second and third paragraphs is inaccurate. The decree was not obtained because O'Sullivan gave shelter to an evicted tenant named O'Neill. O'Neill has been evicted once only—namely, in July 1894, when he owed six years' rent; the poor rate has not been raised 30 per cent, in the division, but has remained the same during the past three years. Mr. Warden was not a candidate at the recent election for Poor Law Guardian. With regard to the last paragraph, I have nothing to add to what I stated on the 11th March, in answer to a previous Question of the hon. Member.