§ MR. M'HUGH (Sligo, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether eviction notices have been served on fifteen tenants on the Marshal, Peyton, and West estates, in Ballinagleva, county Leitrim, by the agent, Mr. Hewson, of Dromahaire; is he aware that negotiations for sale and purchase are pending on these estates; will he have inquiry made into the circumstances before sending the forces of the Crown to assist at the eviction of these tenants; and will he request the Estates Commissioners to intervene, with the object of averting suffering and possible violence.
§ MR. CHERRYThe Estates Commissioners inform me that they have no knowledge of any contemplated evictions on the estates referred to. No proceedings in respect of these estates are at present pending before the Commissioners. Early last year the Commissioners offered to intervene with the object of aiding in a settlement of the terms of purchase. The agent, however, replied that, in view of the wide divergence between prices offered by the tenants and those which the landlords were prepared to accept, the Commissioners' intervention would be futile. In these circumstances the Commissioners do not see that they can take any further action in the matter.