§ MR. DOLANTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Mr. Justice Ross acting as Land Judge has recently sold a grazing farm on the Dickson estate at Tawley, situate between Tullaghan and Kinlough in the county of Leitrim, to Mrs Dickson, who resides at Tullaghan, four miles from the grazing farm; and that adjoining the grazing farm there are twenty-six uneconomic holdings, the average valuation of which is under £3; will he say if the sale to Mrs. Dickson was a judicial act; and whether, seeing that the Congested Districts Board had the estate inspected, and was prepared to purchase it with a 40 view to the enlargement of the uneconomic holdings, anything can now be done to relieve congestion on this estate.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) I am informed by the Registrar of the Land Judge's Court that the sale to Mrs. Dickson was approved by the Court in 1904, and that the giving of that approval was a judicial decision which could only be varied by the Court of Appeal. I have no information as to the character of the holdings adjoining the farms referred to. Subsequent to the sale to Mrs. Dickson the Congested Districts Board issued a request to the Land Judge under Section 7 of the Act of 1903, but on being made aware that the sale to Mrs. Dickson had already taken place, and that the majority of the tenants had agreed to purchase direct from the Land Judge, the Board decided not to purchase the residue of the estate then for sale.