§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin County, N.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether his attention has been directed to the judgments delivered by Mr. Commissioner Finucane and Mr. Commissioner Bailey, of the Irish Land Commission, on the 17th January, 1906, in the case of the Downey-Martin Estate; whether he is aware that Mr. Commissioner Finucane stated inter alia, on that occasion, that the Crown had not, he believed, since the time of James the First, claimed the power or right to interpret the law for judicial authorities, but that power, though not explicitly claimed, was implicitly exercised in the Regulations issued by the late Government for the guidance of the Estates Commissioners in the administration by them of the Irish Land Act of 1903; and whether an opportunity will be given, by the appointment of a Select Committee of the House or otherwise, to investigate fully the circumstances attending this attempt to override and supersede the law by the late administration.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI am informed that the Estates Commissioners referred to in the Question delivered a judgment stating that in their opinion the Regulations issued by the late Government for the guidance of the Commissioners went beyond the powers given to them by the Irish Land Act of 1903, but these Regulations have 934 now been withdrawn by the Lord-Lieutenant, and new Regulations substituted. I do not think that a necessity exists for the appointment of a Select Committee, as suggested by the hon. Member.