§ DR. AMBROSETO ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that on the 27th ult. application was made on behalf of the Congested Districts Board to the Court of Chancery for the purchase of the O'Donell Estate at Newport, county Mayo; that the sale was postponed until November next; can he say why the sale was postponed; and whether, considering the poverty of the surrounding tenants, he will use his influence with a view to expediting the sale of the estate, so that their holdings may be enlarged.
(Answered by MR. Walter Long.) The Congested Districts Board have issued a request under Section 77 of the Act of 1903 with regard to this estate. The application referred to was not made by the Board, but by the solicitors having carriage of the sale. The Land Judge directed the case to stand till next sittings, the receiver in the meantime to negotiate with the agricultural tenants as to the prices they would be prepared to pay 75 to the Board for their holdings. The tenants are very numerous, and it was considered that any shorter adjournment would have been useless.