§ MR. GINNELL (Westmeath, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland can he state approximately the number of future tenants now in Ireland, the aggregate amount of rents paid by them annually, and the amount by which that aggregate would by this time have been reduced according to the average reduction for the whole of Ireland had those tenants been allowed to enter the Land Courts; and, having regard to the purposes of the Land Act of 1881, and to the fact that many of those future tenants have been in continuous occupation for more than a quarter of a century, whether His Majesty's Government will open the Land Courts to the future tenants.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Land Commission inform me that they have no information from which they can state, even approximately, the number of future tenants now in Ireland or the aggregate rents payable by them. The only cases in which they have information are cases in which application is made to them by 1267 present tenants to fix fair rents, or in which the parties enter into agreements, fixing such rents, either under Section 8 of the Act of 1881, or under Section 17 of the Act of 1896. Under the latter Act future tenants may have fair rents fixed. I cannot at present make any statement as to possible legislation on the subject.