§ MR. GINNELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state why the official inspector of Colonel Malone's Baronstown estate did not afford the victims of congestion on and around that estate any opportunity of making representations to him on the ground; did he report the existence of acute congestion there; if so, why did the Estates Commissioners, instead of trying to relieve that congestion, propose to facilitate the sale of three large grass farms on that estate to graziers who have no statutory right to purchase under the Land Act of 562 1903, and who have other grass farms besides these; and will the Commissioners, in exercise of their statutory discretion, refuse the advance of public money in respect of this estate until these grass farms are included for distribution in the sale.
MR. BRYCEThe Estates Commissioners inform me that their inspector reported fully on the estate mentioned in the Question. He did not report the existence of acute congestion in the neighbourhood, nor did he hold any special meeting for the purpose of receiving representations from persons on and around the estate. All the representations which have been made to the Commissioners have been fully considered by the Commissioners themselves. Two large grass farms held by one tenant have been excluded from the sale, and in the case of another large farm the Commissioners have refused to sanction more than the limited advance of £3,000. The Commissioners conceive that the hon. Member is under a misapprehension in supposing that graziers have no statutory right to purchase under the Act of 1903. The grass farms on Colonel Malone's estate are held under leases or by yearly tenants, and the Commissioners have no power to compel farms so hold to be sold to them as untenanted land. As a matter of fact, there is no untenanted land on, the estate.