§ MR. THOMAS O'DONNELL (Kerry, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he will explain why the tenants on the estate of Wren and Stokes, North Kerry, in Chancery since 1883 (Record No. 25: Receiver, John E. Harris; Landed Estates Court), are not allowed to purchase their holdings, or enter the Land Courts to have fair rents fixed, owing to leases which they were obliged to take by the Court; and whether he is aware that some are obliged by the receiver to hold their land under the eleven months grazing system.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. WYNDHAM,) DoverThis estate is being administered in the Court of Chancery. No proceedings for its sale are pending. The persons referred to as tenants are not, and never were, 656 tenants, but merely persons who hold under agistment or grazing contracts, which they have renewed. They were not required to sign such contracts.
§ MR. THOMAS O'DONNELLMay I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman is aware that these men had held their farms till 1891, when they were evicted; that then they were kept on as caretakers for three years, after which they were compelled to sign contracts as eleven months graziers, and that some who refused to to so were proceeded against.
§ MR. WYNDHAMI am not aware of that, but it does not affect anything I have said in my answer.