§ MR. KETTLE (Tyrone, E.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state, with regard to the estate of the Earl of Ranfurly in County Tyrone, sold under the Land Purchase Act of 1903, if the land has yet been vested in the purchasing tenants; if he is aware that 2084 prior to the sale the drains and streams on the estate were kept clean by the landlord, and that since the sale these drains and streams have been neglected, to the detriment of many of the purchasers; and does the Land Commission possess power to intervene for the protection of those injured by the present neglect.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) Part of this property has been vested in the tenant purchasers, and part has not yet been vested. The cleansing of the watercourses would appear to be a matter for voluntary co-operation on the part of the tenant purchasers. The Land Commission have not, as far as I am aware, any power to intervene as suggested.