§ MR. KENDAL O'BRIEN (Tipperary, Mid.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lard-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that application has been made to Lord Orkney, who has sold his estate to the tenants at Castle My, County Tipperary, for the purchase of a large cottage, with two acres of untenanted land on the estate, to be used as a school teacher's residence and a village hall, 553 formerly used by his gamekeeper; whether he is aware that Lord Orkney has given it to his bailiff, James Hynes, who holds 100 acres of land on this estate and 40 acres on others, and also has made him and his brother, Andrew Hynes, tenants of large portions of cutaway bog and thus deprived the small tenants of grazing and turf privileges which they have enjoyed for over fifty years; and whether, under these circumstances, the Estates Commissioners will sanction the sale of the estate without inquiring into this matter and inspecting the small holdings, and, if possible, seeing that the cottage be obtained for the above useful project.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that they have no knowledge of the circumstances alleged in the; Question. Purchase agreements signed by James Hynes and Andrew Hynes in respect of holdings on the estate of the Karl of Orkney were lodged with the Commissioners in July last, and the circumstances connected with the purchase of these holdings will be duly inquired into when the estate is being inspected.