§ MR. O'DOWD) () Sligo, S.To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that during the years 1900 and 1901 the agricultural portion of the Lane Fox estate, situate in the barony of Dromahaire, county Leitrim, was sold through the Irish Land Commission Court to the tenants in occupation for a sum exceeding £110,000; and that during this sale the landlord represented Mr. George Hewson, J.P., as an agricultural tenant and, as such, obtained the sale of his holding, consisting of demesne land, mansion, rights of fishing, game woods; will he state whether any official of the Land Commission inspected the holding before the purchase money was advanced; and, if so, will he state the 1629 nature of this report and say what further action, if any, will be taken in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) A sum exceeding the amount stated was advanced to enable 693 tenants on this estate to purchase their holdings. Mr. Hewson obtained two advances, and the holdings, the subject of sale to him, were duly inspected and reported upon by one of the Land Commission inspectors before the advances were sanctioned.
§ MR. O'DOWDTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that in July last the non-agricultural portion of the Lane Fox estate, County Leitrim, consisting of portions of the demesne land and of the houses and plots in and adjoining the village of Drornahaire, in that county, was offered for sale by public auction by the landlord; that Mr. Stewart Gillmour, merchant, of Dromahaire, has purchased his own holding in the village through the Land Commission Court; that Mr. Gillmour's holding consists of a commercial establishment, with steam bakery, electric light plant, with three and a half statute acres of con-acre grazing land attached; and that the landlord has represented to the Irish Land Commission that this holding is agricultural, and has supported that representation by affidavit, and will he state whether this sale has been sanctioned by the Land Commission: and will he say what is the amount applied for by Mr. Gillmour, and will an inquiry be instituted into the circumstances surrounding the sale.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The Land Commission has no knowledge of the matter referred to in the first part of the Question. The purchase agreement in Mr. Gillmour's case is dated the 24th July, 1902, and the advance of £48O applied for was made on the 2nd December, 1902. In the agreement for purchase he is stated to have been in occupation of the holding since 1880.