§ MR. JOSEPH DEVLIN (Kilkenny, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state whether it is on his instructions that the Estates Commissioners are acting in 294 peremptorily requiring the tenants on Lord Longford's Estate, in Westmeath, to sign agreements to purchase their holdings not at the value of the landlord's interest in those holdings, but in excess of the joint value of the landlord's and tenants' interest added together, and threatening penalties upon those tenants if they refuse to sign such agreements within a week.
§ MR. WALTER LONGThe estate is being sold by direct agreement between the landlord and tenants. One tenant refused to purchase on the same terms as the other tenants. The inspector reported that this refusal was unreasonable, and the tenant was accordingly informed that unless he should agree to buy his holding would be omitted from the estate to be sold.