§ MR. GINNELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been called to the case of the Burrowes Estate, in which, because the tenants have signed so-called voluntary agreements, the Land Judge desires public money to be advanced to the money lenders, and those tenants to be made liable to repay, with interest, the full value of the owners' property, with the full value of the tenants' property and improvements added, and £350 in excess of this gross sum for which there is no security; will 227 that advance be peremptorily prevented; and, seeing that this is common practice where the zones prevent its detection, does he propose to empower the Irish Council to deal with it.
§ MR. BIRRELLI am informed by the Land Judge that in this case the tenants voluntarily entered into an agreement for the purchase of their holdings at prices which would give them a reduction of 7s. in the pound on first term rents and 4s. 6d. on second term rents. The Estates Commissioners made an offer under Section 7 of the Act of 1903 for the purchase of the estate with the object of reselling it to the tenants. The price offered by the Commissioners was less than that which the tenants had agreed to pay, but the Commissioners declined to increase their offer, and as the incum-brancers were prepared to accept the lesser sum, the Land Judge approved of the sale.