§ MR. SHEEHANTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Estates Commissioners received an application for reinstatement from an evicted tenant named Jeremiah Murphy, formerly of Aharrin, Coachford, county Cork, on the Bowen-Colthurst estate; has a sale been arranged to the tenants on this estate, and have these made it a condition of purchase that Murphy should be reinstated; have different inspectors of the Estates Commissioners inquired into the claims of this evicted tenant; and, if so, what has been the nature of their reports; did the middleman, Mr. J. H. Weldon, Killmallock, inform any of the inspectors that he was willing to dispose of his interest for a reasonable sum to the Estates Commissioners; and will he state the number of inspectors through whose hands the claim of this evicted tenant has passed.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Estates Commissioners have received Jeremiah Murphy's application for reinstatement. No proceedings for the sale of the estate have been instituted before the Commissioners, but they are informed that terms of purchase have been arranged with the tenants, who, however, are unwilling to sign agreements until Murphy is reinstated. Two of the Commissioners' inspectors have visited the farm, and have approached the middleman, Mr. Weldon, with a view to purchasing it. Mr. Weldon has not yet stated what sum he would require for his interest. The matter is still pending.