§ MR. J. P. FARRELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that about 100 tenants on the Granard (County Longford) Estate have been debarred from purchasing their holdings by reason of the action of the Land Commission in refusing to sanction advances on agree- 1377 ments made for sale; whether the trustees of Maynooth College are now willing to sell to these tenants on fair and equitable terms; and whether, as fully nine-tenths of this estate has become the property of the tenants, he will urge the Land Commission to expedite the transfer when the new agreements are made.
§ MR. ATKINSON (for Mr. G. W. BALFOUR)The Commissioner before whom the applications for advances upon the Granard Estate were pending refused 127 of these applications on the grounds of insufficient security, etc. In 111 of the cases appeals from the decision of the Commissioner were made pursuant to the provisions of the 29th Section of the Purchase of Land Act, 1891, with the result that the applications in 100 of the cases were sanctioned and advances made. In these cases the sales have been long since completed. The orders of the Commissioner in eleven cases refusing advances were affirmed. In the remaining sixteen cases no appeals were taken against the decision of the Commissioner, and no further agreements which may have been entered into between the parties in these cases, or in the eleven cases above referred to, have as yet been lodged. There is only one case under the Land Purchase Acts upon this estate at present pending in the Land Commission. The Commissioners have no information with regard to the second paragraph. If new agreements are entered into by the parties, and lodged with the Land Commission in the prescribed manner, they will be dealt with as rapidly as is possible.