§ MR. P. C. DOOGAN (Tyrone, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) how many processes, distinguishing between civil bill and ejectment, have recently been served in the parish of Clonoe, county Tyrone, on the tenants of the Commissioners of Education; (2) is he aware that the holdings of these tenants consist for the most part of patches of reclaimed bog of the 901 worst quality, and that in consequence their normal condition is one of chronic poverty, which has in this bad season deepened into considerable distress; (3) what reply, if any, the Commissioners have sent to the memorial of the tenants on this property praying to be allowed to purchase their farms at a fair price; and (4) whether, before these proceedings on behalf of the Education Commissioners are carried further, an inquiry will be granted into the whole Question of management of the Royal School Estate in county Tyrone?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND (Mr. GERALD W. BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe number of ejectments issued in the present month against tenants on the estate referred to is 50, and of civil bill decrees 47. Some nine of the holdings in respect of which these proceedings were brought are reclaimed bog. The question of the sale of the estate to the occupying tenants has not, I am informed, been fully considered by the Commissioners, and no reply, therefore, has yet been sent to the tenants. I see no necessity for the inquiry suggested in the concluding paragraph of the Question.