§ MR. MAURICE HEALY (Cork)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord 448 Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state down to what year returns have up to the present been made out for the Land Judge under the rules made pursuant to section 40 of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1896, of estates to which that section in the first instance applies; how far the returns already presented have been gone through by the Judge to the Land Commission under the section; how many reports have been made by the Land Commission pursuant to such requests; how many estates have been offered for sale to the tenants under the section and accepted by the tenants, and what the number of such tenants is, and the total amount of the purchase money; how many estates have been actually vested in the tenants under the section, and what the number of such tenants is; and whether the offer of sale to the tenants has been refused by them in any and what cases.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURReturns such as referred to have been prepared so far as they relate to cases in which receivers were appointed prior to 1891, and all the estates comprised in these returns have deen dealt with by the Land Judge, with a view to their being sold under the 40th section, or of determining whether they were actually estates to which the provisions of that section are applicable. The return for the period between the years 1891 and 1896 is now almost complete. With regard to the remainder of the question, I am informed that the records of the Land Judge's Court have not been kept in such a form as would readily enable an answer to be given, and that to obtain the information an investigation which would entail much trouble and some expense would be necessary.