§ MR. LONSDALEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland how many owners of untenanted land have refused to sell such land to the Estates Commissioners for the purpose of reinstating evicted tenants; and whether he will state, with reference to such cases, the acreage of the land which the Estates Commissioners desired to buy and the price offered per acre in each case.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform mo that in sixteen of the cases referred to in paragraph 41 of their 806 special Report on Evicted Tenants the owners have refused to accept the Commissioners' offer for untenanted land, which was required for the purpose of reinstating evicted tenants and for the other purposes of the Act. The land comprised in these sixteen cases amounted t') 3,405 acres, and the estimated price, inclusive of the bonus, averaged £22 4s. an acre. A reference to paragraph 41 will show that a large number of the owners of untenanted land who were approached by the Commissioners either failed to reply or refused to sell upon any terms, and therefore no precise offers were, or could be, made. In the case of thirty-three evicted holdings which are in the occupation of twenty-two owners, the owners have refused to accept the Commissioners' offer. The land in these thirty-three cases comprised 1,787 acres, and the Commissioners' estimated price, including the bonus, amounted to an average of £12 7s. per acre. A reference to paragraph 23 of the Commissioners Special Report will show that in 290 similar cases the owners refused to allow inspection, with the result that no offer for purchase could be made.