§ MR. JAMES O'KELLYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a man named M'Drury, a householder and owner of property in the town of Boyle, county Roscommon, had a house and plot of land on the King-Harman estate transferred to him by the Estates Commissioners, and that the house in question was at the time occupied by another tenant; whether there was any special reason why the latter should be passed over and the property bestowed upon M'Drury; whether M'Drury afterwards sold by auction his interest in the house and land for £211; whether he is aware that M'Drury had never expended anything upon improving the concern; and whether the Estates Commissioners will cancel sales of this character, as being contrary to the spirit of the Land Act.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that in 1905 advances were made to John M'Drury for the purchase of two small holdings on the King-Harman estate, one at Boyle and the other at Termon. The Commissioners have not been notified of any change of ownership, and M'Drury is therefore still liable for the payment of the annuities. The Commissioners have 889 no information that another person was at the time of the sale in occupation of either of the holdings or any part of them, nor are they aware that the tenant-purchaser has since parted with his interest.