HC Deb 29 June 1900 vol 85 cc81-3
MR. FLAVIN

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the estate of Jane Sophia Orpen, in the barony of Glanrought, county Kerry, was adver- tised to be sold in four lots on 20th June, 1900, in the Chancery Division Court, Dublin, and that Mr. William G. Lane, of Cork and Dublin, who had carriage of the sale, attended at Kilgoran and accepted the offer of the tenants who had signed the necessary agreements; whether he is aware that the tenants have been negotiating for some years for the sale of this estate, and that on the day the property was to be sold lots 3 and 4 were sold to a local landlord because his offer was higher than the offer of the tenants, and that on the same day the sale of lots 1 and 2 on the same property was adjourned, although the joint offer of the tenants for lot 1 was £2,185, as against only £1,400 bid by the local landlord, and that for lot 2 the tenants offered £1,495 and the local landlord only £1,200; whether he can state on what grounds lots 3 and 4 were sold to the local landlord; and why were the tenants refused to be made the purchasers of their farms, seeing that their joint offers for lots 1 and 2 were £3,680, as against £2,600 bid by the local landlord.

MR. G. W. BALFOUR

The facts are generally as stated in the first and second paragraphs, except that as the acceptance of an offer to purchase rests with the court, the solicitor having carriage of the proceedings could not of his own motion accept any offers made by the tenants. Lots 3 and 4 were sold to the local landlord because, in the opinion of the Judge, his offer was more advantageous to the estate than a sale to the tenants. The sale of the other two lots was adjourned as the court was unable to accept the tenants' offer, that being conditional upon the Land Commissioners sanctioning an advance of the necessary amount of land stock.

MR. FLAVIN

Is it not the fact that the joint offer of the tenants was more than that of the local landlord?

MR. G. W. BALFOUR

I can only repeat the answer I have given that in the opinion of the Judge the landlord's offer was the more advantageous to the estate.

CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)

But ought not the advantage to the tenants to be considered as well as the advantage to the estate?

*MR. SPEAKER

Order, order! That does not arise out of the question.

MR. FLAVIN

It was my question.