§ MR. DUFFY (Galway, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware 1071 that the Estates Commissioners received a petition some weeks ago from the Roo tenants, near Gort, county Galway, which pointed out that all the holdings of the tenants ranged from £3 to £5 a year, and stated that a number of large grazing farms, belonging to Mr. Walter Shaw Taylor, Ardrahan, were lying alongside of their small holdings; whether he is aware that negotiations are going on at present between Mr. Taylor and the Estates Commissioners for the sale of some untenanted land, with a view of enlarging the holdings of the tenants on the Taylor estate; and whether, in view of the facts cited in the petition of the Roo annuitant tenants, he will instruct the Estates Commissioners not to sanction the purchase of small bits of the worst part of Mr. Taylor's untenanted lands, but insist on buying as much land as will make all the adjoining small holdings economic.
MR. BRYCEThe Estates Commissioners have received the petition referred to. They inform mo that Mr. Shaw Taylor has expressed his willingness to accept their offer to purchase under Section 6, certain untenanted lands in the locality mentioned, and a scheme for the enlargement of small holdings on the estate is now being prepared. The Commissioners found that a portion of the untenanted land at first offered by the vendor was not suitable for division among the tenants, but at the Commissioners' request the vendor has now consented to sell additional land which is most suitable for the purpose in view, and he is retaining in his own hands the untenanted land which the Commissioners considered unsuitable, as well as a small portion of good land.