§ MR. GINNELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware of the opinion of the Estates Commissioners that uneconomic holdings in Ireland, the rents of which have been paid out of money earned in other countries, are bad security for advances calculated upon those rents; whether his attention has been called to the number of such holdings now being sold without inspection, while neighbouring untenanted land is not sold; and whether he proposes to find any remedy for proceedings for which those charged with the administration of the Land Act of 1903 decline to accept responsibility.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that they have not expressed the opinion attributed to them in the Question. The hon. Member knows that no inspection is necessary in the case of advances for the purchase of holdings which come within the terms of Section 1 of the Act of 1903. I am not aware that those who are charged 987 with the administration of the Act have declined to accept the responsibility which rests upon them.