§ MR. J. P. FARRELL (Longford, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether any negotiations are pending for the sale of the Roberts Estate, in the parish of New-town Cashel, county Longford; whether he is aware that, amongst seven others, Patrick Casserly, of Culnagore Wood, was evicted in 1889, his farm since remaining derelict; whether he is aware that in the course of negotiations for the sale of this property the solicitor in charge has stated that Casserly's holding, along with some fifty acres of plantation, has been let to a planter tenant for the purposes of sale under the Land Purchase Act of 1903; whether such a tenancy can be so created; and whether, in the interest of the general peace of the district, he will suggest to the Estates Commissioners not to consider this application until they first exhaust the provisions of 151 The Land Purchase Act, 1903, for the restoration of evicted tenants to their holdings.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that they are not aware whether negotiations are pending for the sale of the estate referred to. No proceedings in the case have yet come before them, and they have no information as to the estate itself or as to the statements alleged to have been made in the course of the negotiations. The evicted tenant, Patrick Casserly, referred to in the Question, has been provided with another holding in the county of Dublin, and is in occupation of it.