§ MR. SHEEHAN (Cork County, Mid.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that several tenants on the estate of Mr. Walter Nelegan, near Blarney, County Cork, have been paying interest to the Land Commissioners at the rate of 4 per cent., and that others on the same estate are still paving rent, as they have refused to sign for purchase until the tenant who has been evicted has been reinstated; whether he is aware that it has been held out as an inducement to 555 the tenants to advance the price offered for the land from twenty years to twenty-one and a half years that the evicted tenant will be reinstated; and, seeing that the present occupier of the evicted farm is attempting to add a large sum to the purchase money in lieu of arrears whether an inspector will be sent to inquire into all the circumstances of the case.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that, according to the purchase agreements lodged in this case, the purchasing tenants have agreed to pay interest in lieu of rent at the rate of 4 per cent. on the purchase money pending the completion of the sale. The Commissioners are not aware of the terms offered to the tenants who have not signed purchase agreements or of the circumstances under which they have refused to purchase, but this matter will be duly inquired into when the estate is being inspected. An application for reinstatement on the estate has been received from an evicted tenant whose former holding is stated to be in the occupation of another tenant. This application, with others of a similar nature, has been referred to an inspector for inquiry.