§ MR. PATRICK WHITE (Meath, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the tenants on the estate of the Venerable Archdeacon Scott, situate at Cookstown, Piercetown, Valrenstown, in the county Meath, have lodged purchase agreements for their holdings as far back as the year 1904; and whether he will explain why the Commissioners have refused to advance the whole of the purchase money, and by what principles they were guided in fixing the amount to be advanced.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) Purchase agreements in respect of the estate mentioned were lodged with the Estates Commissioners on the 3rd January, 1905. The Commissioners have refused to sanction the advances applied for in six of the cases. In one case the advance was refused on the ground of insufficient security. In the other five cases the advances applied for exceeded in each case the sum of £3,000 which is the limit imposed by Section of 2 the Act of 1888, and the Commissioners, in the exercise of their discretion, decided not to sanction advances in excess of this amount.