§ MR. GINNELL (Westmeath, N.)To ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland if he will give a reference to any statutory provision or judicial decision of an Appeal Court restricting the Treasury and the Estates Commissioners in sales within the zones, under the Land Act of 1903, to the consideration of the gross security only, and precluding consideration of the fact that this gross security comprises the joint property of the seller and buyer, the value of whose shares has been separately ascertained; will he say where the obstacle arises to having this important question determined; which docs the obstacle affect, the Treasury or the Estates Commissioners; and will the Department not affected move to have the question determined.
(Answered by Mr. Cherry.) The hon. Member will find in Section 1 of The Land Act, 1903, the statutory provisions which make the sanctioning of advances 1254 under the Land Purchase Acts mandatory in certain cases. There is no obstacle to any question of law which arises in the case of sales being determined by the Judicial Commissioner or the Court of Appeal.
§ MR. GINNELLTo ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland has the question been argued before and decided by the Court of Appeal in Ireland, whether the Estates Commissioners are bound to advance to a landlord selling holdings within the zones a price and a bonus calculated upon the entire value of property belonging to landlord and tenants jointly, even after they have ascertained the separate value of the respective shares, al though the tenants' share has not been sold to them, it being already their own property.
(Answered by Mr. Cherry.) I am not aware that any case such as is suggested in the Question has been argued in, or decided by, the Court of Appeal.