§ MR. CHARLES CRAIG (Antrim, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the inspector of the Estates Commissioners who was sent down to divide the Anketel Grove estate, in County Monaghan, was accompanied during the greater part of his inspection of the estate by the local parish priest; and why, in view of the fact that the population of the district is composed very largely of Protestants and that many of these had claims on the farms at least equal to those of the Roman Catholics, a Protestant clergyman, or some person who would represent the claims of the Protestant community, was not asked by the inspector to accompany him.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Estates Commissioners do not know whether their inspector was accompanied by any clergyman when on these lands. In alloting untenanted land the Commissioners have no regard to the religious beliefs of the applicants.