§ MR. DALYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state in how many cases heard before the Chief Land Commissioners at Dundalk on 23rd and 24th June the rents were raised and lowered respectively from the valuations made by the court valuers on farms from the Shirley and other estates in county Mona- 98 ghan; whether the court valuers were present in court when decisions in above cases were given, and if they gave any evidence; whether the chief Land Commissioners only accept the court valuers' valuation when in favour of the landlord; and whether he will make any change in the present method of fixing rents before the Appeal Court in Ireland?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURIt has already been pointed out to the honourable Member that the court valuers did not make an estimate of the fair rent in the cases referred to, but only of the fair letting value of each holding as it stood; the first paragraph cannot, therefore, be answered. The court valuers were not present in court on the occasion. The reply to the third and fourth paragraphs is in the negative.