§ MR. GINNELLI beg to ask Mr. Attorney- General for Ireland in view of the fact that the tenants' right to protection of his occupation, interest, and improvements in his holding under the Land Act of 1881 exists as a rule, and that cases in which it does exist are exceptional, will he state why the legality of confiscating that property under the Land Act of 1903 has not been tested before now; and what is the reason for leaving unsettled a question which arises in connection with almost every sale under this Act.
§ THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. CHERRY,) Liverpool, ExchangeThe Act of 1903, as I have several times reminded the hon. Member, deals with voluntary agreements between landlord and tenant only. The legality of confiscating the property of tenants or of any other class in the community does not and cannot arise in connection with any sale under the Act.
§ MR. GINNELLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that for twenty-five years the law of the land has stood between landlords and tenants for the purpose of protecting the tenant from these so-called voluntary arrangements?
§ MR. CHERRYThat may be so, but the Act of 1903 especially authorises them.