§ MR. LONSDALE (Armagh, Mid.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland which clause of the Irish Land Bill restricts or limits the power, conferred upon the Land Commission by Clause 31, of acquiring land compulsorily outside the congested 1472 districts area; and whether it is intended that this power of compulsory purchase is to be exercised solely for the purpose of dealing with cases of congestion.
§ MR. BIRRELLClause 44 of the Bill contains general restrictions on the compulsory acquisition of land under the Bill. Clause 31, which lays down the procedure to be adopted by the Land Commission preliminary to compulsory acquisition, is limited to land which is not situated in a congested districts county. The power of acquiring such land is not confined to cases of congestion, but doubtless the most urgent cases of this kind would be the first to be dealt with by the Land Commission.