HC Deb 22 March 1906 vol 154 cc583-4
MR. GINNELL

To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state the number and aggregate annual rental of estates now in the Land Judge's Court in Ireland in respect of which an absolute order for sale has been made and receivers appointed; have their holdings on all those estates been offered at a fair price to the tenants as required by statute; have the offers of the tenants been rejected on other grounds than that of value; will the Land Judge be asked to furnish particulars of all those insolvent properties to the Estates Commissioners; and will the Commissioners intervene under Section 8 of the Regulations now in force.

(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) A Return, No. 256, of the estates for sale in the Land Judge's Court over which receivers have been appointed was last year laid upon the Table pursuant to an Order of this House. This Return dealt with the estates in Court on 31st December, 1904. I am informed that the Land Judge has ordered a similar Return for the year ending 31st December, 1905, to be prepared, and there will be no objection to laying this Return upon the Table if it should be moved for. The learned Judge informs me that a great number of the estates in his Court have been sold under Section 40 of the Land Act of 1896 and Section 7 of the Act of 1903; and a still larger number have been sold by mutual agreement between the parties under the supervision of the Court. Many cases have been dismissed out of Court on the consent of the parties. A considerable number of the estates remaining in Court are non-agricultural. In all other cases every possible step has, I am informed, been taken to bring the estate to sale. In no case, so far as is remembered, has the tenant's offer been rejected on grounds other than that of value, and rarely for that reason. The Land Judge is prepared to furnish the Return mentioned to the Estate Commissioners. Section 8 of the Regulations referred to applies to cases in which differences as to terms of sale exist between landlord and tenant, and is not applicable to cases in the Land Judge's Court.