§ MR. DILLONI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the allusion in the Report of the Estates Commissioners to the instructions received from time to time from the Lord-Lieutenant, and to the statement that their proceedings have to a large extent been controlled by these instructions; and whether, in view of this statement, he will communicate these instructions to the House.
§ MR. WALTER LONGThis Question has already been answered. No such regulations at are mentioned in Section 23, Sub-section 8, have ever been framed. My right hon. friend the Member for Dover evidently thought it premature to do so until some experience had been gained. He stated, however, in an Answer given in the House, that communications of a Departmental and confidential character had passed between him and the Commissioners. Formal regulations are now being framed, and I propose, as promised, to lay them on the Table of the House immediately after certain questions now pending before Mr. Justice Meredith have been decided.
§ MR. DILLONasked why the communications which controlled (he Estates Commissioners in many respects is administering the Act during the last eighteen months would not be communicated to the House.
§ MR. WALTER LONGWell, I think they were informal. It seems to me to be the most convenient time, both for the hon. Gentleman and for those who have to defend the Executive, to discuss them when they are before the House.