§ MR. O'MARAI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Irish Land Commission are landlords of certain lands of Kilkeary, in the county of Kilkenny, held by fifteen tenants; that up to 1893 these lands were held from the Irish Land Commission by middlemen; that in consequence of the non-payment of rent by these middlemen they were ejected by the Land Commission in 1893; that a representative of the Land Commission then induced some of the occupying tenants to sign agreements to become tenants to the Land Commission at a rent which was nearly three times the rent previously payable to the Land Commission by the middlemen; that these 46 tenants got an undertaking from the representative of the Irish Land Commission, before signing such agreements, that the Land Commission would sell to them under the Land Purchase Acts at sixteen-and-a-half years purchase of the rent so agreed on, and that the purchase agreements would be sent to them for signature; and will he say why this arrangement has not hitherto been carried out, and whether the Land Commission will now have effect given to it.
MR. BRYCEI have not yet received from the Land Commission the necessary-information to enable me to reply to this Question. The subject appears to be one of some complexity, and doubtless the Commissioners find it necessary to make detailed inquiries. I would ask the hon. Member to defer the Question for a few days.