HC Deb 14 February 1898 vol 53 cc473-5
MR. J. P. FARRELL

I beg further to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, (1) whether he can state the present position of the purchase proceedings on the Annaly, County Longford, Estate; (2) has this Estate yet been purchased by the Land Commission for re-sale to the tenants; and (3) is he aware that, although the bargains to purchase were practically completed three years ago, the tenants are being charged the full rents still, to their grave dissatisfaction?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

I am informed that, owing to the uncertainty whether the sales on this Estate should be carried out under Section 40 of the Act of 1896, the proceedings were stayed until there had been a legal decision on the subject. This having been decided in the negative, the Land Commissioners subsequently required a second inspection of the lands, and the Inspector's Report was not completed until December last. It is expected that the sales to the tenants will be completed at an early date. As regards the third paragraph, I am informed that the terms of purchase, offered to, and accepted by, the tenants, included the payment of their rents up to the sale day, preceding payment of the purchase money by the Land Commission.

MR. FRANCIS STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with reference to the paragraph in the Queen's Speech of January, 1897, which stated that the appalling massacres which had taken place in Constantinople and in other parts of the Ottoman Dominions had called for the special attention of the Powers who were signatories to the Treaty of Paris; that papers would be laid before Parliament showing the considerations which induced the Powers to make the present condition of the Ottoman Empire the subject of special consultation by their representatives at Constantinople, and that the conferences which the six Ambassadors had been instructed to hold were then still proceeding; what was the duration of the said conferences and whether any statement can be made as to their result; and whether, if they have come to an end, it is the intention of the Powers principally concerned to resume them?

MR. CURZON

The conferences of the Ambassadors at Constantinople were begun in December, 1896, and continued till February, 1897, when the results of the deliberations, which had been secret, were reported to the various Governments. At that date, the Cretan, and subsequently the Greek question, became acute, and it was the unanimous opinion of the Ambassadors that it would be useless at such a time to propose reforms. I cannot say what the future decisions of the Powers may be.

MR. JAMES LOWTHER (Cumberland, Penrith)

Did the inquiry of the Ambassadors extend to the proceedings of the Armenian revolutionary committees, and their throwing of bombs into the Bank, and so on?

MR. CURZON

No, Sir; as far as my recollection goes, that could not have been included in their inquiries, because the object they were met to discuss was the question of reforms in the Turkish administration.

MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)

Was there any protocol drawn up, or anything of an authoritative nature received?

MR. CURZON

I think my hon. Friend asked me that question last year. If he looks back in Hansard he will see what my answer was.