§ MR. GINNELLTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will ascertain and state the practice of the Estates Commissioners in cases of sales to tenants within the zones, when the so-called judicial rents have been fixed not by any court but privately, without official inspection or production of evidence; how is the value of the respective interests of landlord and tenants ascertained and the tenants protected against buying what is their own; and how is the public protected against the consequences of the prices exceeding the gross value.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) In the first section of the Act of 1903 no distinction is drawn between judicial rents fixed in court and judicial rents fixed on consent or by agreement. The Estates Commissioners hold that advances must be made in all cases in which judicial rents have been fixed, provided that the prices come within the zones and that the holdings are included in lands declared to be an estate.