MR. PATRICK O'BRIENI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can explain the delay in completing the sale to the tenants of lots 5, 8, and 10, part of the William Butler estate in County Clam and County Galway, ordered by Mr. Justice Ross to be sold under the 40th Section of the Land Act, 1896, on the 18th of December, 1897.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURI am informed that several difficulties have arisen as to the resettlement of the rental of the holdings on the lots mentioned, and that considerable delay has also been occasioned by the tenants on lot 5 subdividing the holding among themselves without the authority of the Court, and the refusal of two of the tenants to comply with the undertaking given by their solicitor when the Order of December, 1897, was made.