§ MR. CHARLES CRAIGI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the tenants of the Pollock estate have refused to pay rent until the estate is handed over to the Estates Commissioners; and whether those officials will be instructed to decline any properties for sale which are offered to them under illegal pressure of this kind.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have been informed that in December last the tenants on the Pollock Estate refused to pay their rents until the Commissioners should buy the estate. The Commissioners had commenced informal negotiations for the purchase of the estate so far back as June, 1905, and a formal application was made by the owner to the Commissioners to purchase the estate in August, 1906. The question of price has been the subject of protracted negotiations with the owner, but the Commissioners hope that an agreement will shortly be arrived at. These facts show that the negotiations for sale had been entered upon long before the refusal to pay rent.
§ MR. CHARLES CRAIGwas understood to ask if the Estates Commissioners should not refuse to enter into negotiations for the sale of the estates, the tenants of which have applied illegal pressure by refusing to pay rents.
§ MR. BIRRELLI understand that in this case there was no such illegal pressure before the negotiations which have been pending for years.