§ MR. FETHERSTONHAUGH (Fermanagh, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland how many evicted tenants have been restored to their former holdings, or have had now holdings allotted to them by the Estates Commissioners; in how many cases have holdings so restored or allotted been sold by the persons to whom they were restored or allotted before or very shortly after they got possession; in any such cases have grants of public money been made to enable the evicted tenant to stock the land or rebuild; and who will be liable to repay such advances, the vendor or the purchaser, and how are such advances, if at all, secured.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that the number of evicted tenants whom they had reinstated or provided with new holdings up to 31st October, 1906, is 161. The Commissioners have no information as to the number of cases in which the holdings have been sold since the purchasers got possession. In any case in which an advance is made for the improvement of a holding, by building or otherwise, the amount of such advance is repaid by the purchase annuity. In any case in which a grant is made for the purchase of stock or other similar object the amount of the grant is made a charge on the holding in the event of the purchaser disposing of such holding within a period of five years.