§ MR. JOHN O'CONNOR (Kildare, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether any negotiations are going on between the Estates Commissioners and the tenants of Hortlands, on the Hort estate, Kilcock, county Kildare; whether the tenants are twenty-three in number and have offered a price for their farms, that is to say, twenty-one years purchase of the rental, provided that certain untenanted land on the estate was divided amongst them at the price of twenty-four years purchase of the rental; has an inspector been sent by the Commissioners to inspect and report upon the property; was he during his visit driven over the estate in his own trap by the eleven months holder of the said untenanted land; has the said eleven months holder offered a large price for the untenanted land; will the tenants continue their offer of purchase if the untenanted land is withdrawn from the subject matter of the bargain; have the tenants represented that the report of the inspector is inaccurate in many important respects; and will another inspection be ordered and the tenants asked to state their opinions on disputed points.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that they have issued a request, under Section 7 of the Act of 1903, in respect of the estate of Sir Fenton Josiah Hort, including the townland of Hortlands, which is for sale in the Land Judge's Court. There are thirty-six tenants on the estate, of whom twenty-nine are on Hortlands. The tenants have made an offer to purchase on the terms stated in the Question. The property has been inspected and reported on, and the report will shortly be con- 1208 sidered by the Commissioners. The Com" missioners have no information as to who drove the inspector over the estate. There are three grazing tenants on the estate, and these have made offers to purchase, but the offers have not yet been considered. The Commissioners have not yet estimated the price of the estate. The report of their inspector is a confidential document, not accessible to the tenants, and no representations as to its contents have been or could be made by the tenants. Until the report has been considered and a price estimated, it cannot be ascertained whether the tenants will be willing to purchase on the terms offered, or how the untenanted land will be dealt with.