§ MR. O'SHEETo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, whether, inasmuch as, under the regulations issued in February, 1906, under the Irish Land Act, 1903, the Estates Commissioners have refused to make any advance in respect of the purchase money of eleven village holdings at Clashmore, on the estate of the Earl of Huntingdon, and have also refused to make any advance in respect of twenty-three village or town holdings on the estate of Earl Fortescue at Dunmore, county Waterford, and advances in similar cases were made under the previous regulations, he will advise the Lord-Lieutenant to cancel the second regulation of February, 1906, with a view to enabling Irish tenants to get rid of landlords who are willing to sell; whether, in these cases, the security for at least a portion of the advances applied for would be sufficient by providing that the purchasing tenants should insure their dwelling-houses against fire; and whether, under previous Land Purchase Acts, there was any restriction on the making of an advance for the purchase of a town or village holding.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) I beg to refer the hon. Member to my Answer to his previous Question on this subject on 21st Tune, when I stated that the Government have no intention of withdrawing the regulation referred to. The effect of this regulation has, I am informed, been to facilitate, rather than to restrict, the sale of town and village holdings under the Act of 1903. In dealing with applications for advances for the purchase of such holdings, it is the practice of the Commissioners to accept insurances against fire as collateral security for portion of the advances in cases in which they consider they would be warranted in doing so. Such insurances, however, cannot provide against the total or partial disappearance of the premises by dilapidation during the sixty-eight and a half years for which the land-purchase annuity would be payable. Under the previous Land Purchase Acts advances were not made on the security of houses, but on the security of the land, including the sites of houses, when there were any.