§ MR. CREANOn behalf of the hon. Member for Mid Cork, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he, is aware that two bodies of tenants on the estate of M. F. Barry in lunacy have signed agreements to purchase their holdings on certain terms; that there are, however, a number of tenants holding farms at Cooldorihy, near Macroom, who claim to be a separate estate, inasmuch as they live in a different part of the country from the other purchasing tenants, and that therefore they are entitled to negotiate independently for their own interests; that they have submitted proposals for purchase to the Registrar in Lunacy through the Receiver, Mr. R. M. J. Townsend, and in the alternative of the non-acceptance of these proposals they have asked for a special inspection by the Estates Commissioners; will he say why these proposals have been rejected; will he state what action the Estates Commissioners propose to take in the matter; and whether they will order an early inspection of the holdings of these men, who have been threatened with legal proceedings unless they pay up their old rents.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe matter of this estate is in lunacy under the jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor. The Registrar in Lunacy informs me that the tenants referred to in the Question have been offered terms of purchase identical with those recently accepted by the tenants on the other portions of the property. The Lord Chancellor has been unable to distinguish between the two sets of tenants, 883 or to discover any ground upon which one set should receive more favourable terms than the other. The terms offered are the lowest upon which the Lord Chancellor would feel justified in sanctioning a sale. The Estates Commissioners do not propose to intervene in the matter at the present stage, but they will, when inspecting the remainder of the estate, also inspect the holdings of these particular tenants with the view of considering how they should be dealt with. The inspection, however, cannot take place for some time, seeing that the purchase agreements have only recently been lodged.