§ MR. FETHERSTONHAUGHI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that a tenant on the Morley Estate, county Cavan, named John Nixon, had his rent reduced by Lord Morley in 1882 from £46 a year to £34 10s., and paid at the reduced rent down to the sale of the 1154 estate by Lord Morley in 1898 to a syndicate; that the syndicate now claim rent at the rate of £46, and have compelled Nixon to pay up arrears at that rate, and are at present proceeding against him for rent at £46; that negotiations for the sale of the estate to the Estates Commissioners are pending; will the Estates Commissioners decline to purchase unless Nixon and other tenants are fairly dealt with; and has Nixon's rent been returned as a £46 rent in the rental furnished to the Commissioners, and are they aware that £34 10s. was the rent in fact paid for many years.
MR. BRYCEThe Estates Commissioners inform me that the townland in which John Nixon's holding is situate is not included in the Crookenden and Casey (late Morley) Estate, in respect of which proceedings for sale have been instituted before them. The Commissioners are not aware of the facts stated in the Question, and have no power to intervene in disputes between landlord and tenant as to rent. They will, however, enquire into the circumstances under which the townland in question has been excluded from the sale of the estate.