§ MR. P. J. O'BRIEN (Tipperary, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Estates Commissioners have recently declared the holdings of nine tenants on the Rev. Marshall Vincent's estate at Rapla, near Nenagh, to be a separate estate, although they had previously refused to do so; that, whilst these nine holdings have been created since 1902, the four old tenants, whose predecessors had been on the estate for generations, are not enabled to purchase their holdings; that a condition sought to be imposed by the landlord when negotiating for sale to one of the four old tenants was that he should purchase an evicted farm in addition to his own; and can he state the nature of the correspondence and inquiries which caused the Estates Commissioners to change their mind on the question of the sale.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) The holdings in question wore declared an "estate" and vested in the purchasing tenants on August 4th, 1904. The tenancies date from 1902, and were created for the enlargement of the holdings in the occupation of the purchasing tenants. Before finally declaring the lands an "estate," the Commissioners made inquiries as to the lands which the vendor asked to have excluded from the sale; and, on perusing the correspondence which had passed between the vendor's solicitor and the 595 solicitor for the tenants, were satisfied that the application of the vendor was reasonable.