MR. P. O'BRIENOn behalf of the honourable Member for the St. Patrick Division of Dublin, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the last report of the Land Commission, which shows that 3,810 applications by landlords and tenants for loans of £1,459,250 had been made for the purchase of tenants' holdings under the Land Acts of 1885 and 285 1888, bat that such loans were refused by the Land Commission; that 1,709 applications by landlords and tenants for loans of £598,821 had been made for the purchase of tenants' holdings under the Land Acts of 1891 and 1896, but that such loans were refused by the Land Commission; whether he is aware that the total number of loans in which landlords had agreed to sell to tenants, refused by the Land Commission, were 5,519 for £2,058,071; and whether he would order a return to be submitted to this House stating the counties and estates from which the refused applications were made, and the cause of refusal?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe figures quoted in the first and second paragraphs are correct. With regard to the third paragraph, it has been stated in previous annual reports of the Commissioners that applications have been refused, or dismissed for various reasons, such as insufficiency of security, sub-lettings, sub-divisions, difficulties as to title, etc. No statistics are available on the subject, and to obtain the information desired in the Question would involve the separate examination of the 5,519 applications referred to, which would considerably interfere with the disposal of the current work of the Department. No useful purpose would be served by consenting to the return indicated, and I see no sufficient reason for asking the Commissioners to prepare it.