§ MR. CULLINANOn behalf of the hon. Member for North Longford, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the sale of the King-Harman Estate at Ballinamuck, county Longford; whether he is aware that in order to meet the view of the majority of the tenants the terms of purchase have been reduced by the Master of the Rolls to twenty-one and a half to twenty years purchase, whilst twenty-four and a half years purchase is asked from the second-term tenants, who are a minority, on the property; and will he request the Estates Commissioners, when sanctioning this sale, to reduce the second-term purchase rental from its present basis of twenty-four and a half years purchase to an equivalent basis of twenty-three years purchase.
MR. BRYCEI have referred this Question to the office of the Master of the Rolls, and am informed that the facts are substantially as stated in the Question. The Estates Commissioners inform me that proceedings for the sale of this portion of the King-Harman Estate have not yet been instituted before them, but in the event of such proceedings being instituted they will, before sanctioning any aovances for purchase, have a detailed inspection made of the holdings on the estate.