§ DR. AMBROSE (Mayo, W.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Congested Districts Board recently purchased some islands in Clew Bay, near Newport, county Mayo; that those islands have been let to graziers who live long distances away, while the neighbouring tenants were much in need of them; and if he can say why they were not leased or sold to the neighbouring tenants whose holdings are small and uneconomic.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) The Board issued public notices calling for tenders for the grazing on these islands, and in every case in which the Board's tenants sent in tenders their tenders were accepted, but this occurred in the case of only three islands out of the entire number. The islands will ultimately be added to the holdings of tenants on neighbouring estates purchased by the Board, but the title to the islands has not yet been vested in the Board.