§ MR. FFRENCH (Wexford, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that there is any case on record where an agreement arrived at between landlord and tenant, and sanctioned by the Estates Commissioners, has fallen through; whether the position of the tenant-purchaser as a borrower is much safer than under the old title; and can he explain why the Board of Works hesitate to advance money for the building of hay-barns, 697 etc., in cases where the tenant-right and freehold would be practically security for the amount asked for.
§ MR. RUNCIMANI have no information as regards the first part of the hon. Member's Question. A purchasing tenant is not an owner in fee simple until the holding has been legally vested in him by the Land Commission, and can therefore only be treated by the Board of Works as a tenant. The Board cannot regulate their practice in cases of this kind by probabilities; the question of the ownership of the land is one of fact, and in the matter of the security of their loans the Board must have regard to facts. Applications for hay barns are treated in the same way as applications for loans for other purposes, and the Board inform me that they do not hesitate to make loans to purchasing tenants for these purposes provided that they satisfy the conditions referred to in my Answer to the hon. Member of the 31st ult.