§ MR. GINNELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will arrange that the Local Government Board shall send a copy of the forthcoming Return of Untenanted Land as soon as ready to the rural council of each district in which the Return shows land of that class to exist, together with a letter imforming the council of the facilities afforded by the Land Act of 1903 for distributing such land, all the various modes of distribution, and the benefits derivable therefrom.
MR. BRYCEThe Parliamentary Return in question will in the ordinary course be on sale to the public. It is not the practice of the Local Government Board to distribute such papers gratuitiously to local authorities. The Board have no functions to perform in connection with land purchase, and it would be highly undesirable that they, or any other executive department, should attempt to define or interpret, for general information, the provisions of the Land Purchase Acts. The functions of the Estates Commissioners in regard to untenanted land are explained in the published reports which anyone can purchase.