CAPTAIN CRAIGTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Mr. Thomas Staples Irwin, of Dungannon, county Tyrone, got a lease on 2nd January, 1867, from the then Primate of Armagh of the minerals under the town-land of Kingarve, parish of Drumglass, barony of Middle Dungannon, county Tyrone, and during the time this lease was in existence the Commissioners of Church Temporalities, by a deed dated 16th December, 1873, sold the royalties in the town land to another party without Mr. Irwin's knowledge, and that they again sold them to Mr. Thomas Staples Irwin by deed dated 29th July, 1880, and that when Mr. Irwin applied to the Land Commission, in whom the old church property is now vested, to be refunded the amount he had paid, he was refused; and whether he will take steps to secure the immediate repayment of the money.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) I am informed by the Land Commission that a statement on the subject of the Question was submitted to and fully considered by the Commissioners two years ago, when they informed Mr. Irwin and his solicitor that they could not admit any liability on their part in the matter.