§ MR. GINNELL (Westmeath, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Estates Commissioners are aware that Mr. E. M. Packenham, owner of an estate in the Mullingar rural district, comprising1,900 acres of untenanted and non-residential land surrounded by uneconomic holdings, is now attempting, by selling the latter and retaining the former, to perpetuate the condition of things which Parliament desires to relieve; and whether, in view of the number of industrious young men obliged to emigrate from that district every year for want of land, the Commissioners will, in exercise of their statutory powers, refuse to sanction the sale of any part of this estate unless the whole is offered for sale and a map of the whole is furnished to them.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners are not aware of the facts alleged in the Question. The Commissioners have, with the owner's consent, arranged to have a preliminary inspection made of some 2,700 acres of untenanted land in the districts of Delvin and Mullingar, with a view to considering the question of purchasing it. The inspection will be made as soon as possible.