§ MR. JUSTIN M'CARTHY (Longford, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that in March 1898 the bailiff on the estate of Lord Annaly, at Rathcline, County Longford, made an offer of reinstatement to an evicted tenant, named Mary Goldrick, upon the payment of one and a-half years' rent, and that, although the offer was accepted and the money lodged in the National Bank at Ballymahon, a workman in the employment of the bailiff, named Moughty, was subsequently placed in possession and still remains in occupation of the farm; and whether inquiry will be made into the circumstances of the case with a view to the completion of the agreement entered into with Mary Goldrick?
MR. BALFOURThis is not a matter calling for the interference of the Executive Government. However, I have made inquiry and am informed that Mary Goldrick did not accept the offer of reinstatement made to her by the estate bailiff, as she could give no security and had not lodged the amount in the bank. The new tenant was not a workman of the bailiff, but is a carpenter and boat builder by trade. He paid arrears of rent amounting to £8, and, moreover, paid to the previous occupant of the house and farm a sum of £30.