§ MR. DUFFYTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Estates Commissioners have received a copy of a resolution passed at a representative meeting of the Athenry people on Sunday, 8th July, setting out that the Lord Chancellor and the owners of the Lambert property, Athenry, are agreeable to sell to the tenants; is he aware that the 1308 tenants made an attempt to buy, but that, owing to the price demanded by the receiver, Colonel Lopdale, namely, twenty-five years' purchase, the negotiations fell through; and whether, having regard to the willingness of both sides to negotiate a sale, he will advise the Estates Commissioners to try and effect a settlement.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that they have received a memorial from the Athenry town tenants on the estate of Lamberts Minors. The Commissioners are at present in correspondence with the receiver of the estate with a view to purchasing it under Section 6 of the Act of 1903, and thus effecting a settlement of the case.