§ MR. GINNELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland do the inspectors on behalf of the Estates Commissioners, in the case of a direct sale, inquire into the solvency of proposed purchasers, and the cause of insolvency where found; if so, how do they treat cases in which tenants sign purchase agreements in order to avoid eviction, and evicted tenants, in order to recover a house for their families, borrow money to pay the landlord before he allows them to sign, in circumstances in which they are not free Agents; seeing that landlords and tenants conceal facts of this nature, will the inspectors be instructed regarding them; and are the Commissioners aware of such cases on an estate belonging to Colonel Smyth, of Gaybrook, Westmeath, sold or in course of sale.
MR. BRYCEThe inquiries which the inspectors of the Estates Commissioners are to make are fully set out in the Instructions to Inspectors, dated 9th March, 1906 (Cd. 2881), to which I beg to refer the hon. Member. The Commissioners inform me that upon receiving their inspector's report they ask for any further information which they may consider necessary. The estate of Colonel Smyth, of Gaybrook, has not yet been inspected, and the Commissioners therefore have at present no information regarding the circumstances of that estate.