MR. C. MACVEIGH (Donegal, E.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the fact that the tenants on the estate of Sir Arthur Wallace, situated at Drumbologue, East Donegal, signed purchase agreements in March last and lodged them with the Estates Commissioners; whether he is aware that they and their landlord now desire that the sale of the Drumbologue and Ramelton portion of the estate should be treated as one transaction, the title being the same and all the proofs furnished in the Ramelton part, the sale of which is about, to be completed, apply to both; and whether seeing that the Drumbologue tenants live in a poor congested district and the saving of expense to them and the advantage they will have in the immediate reduction of their annual payments, he will direct the Commissioners to deal with the two portions of the estate as one.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) I refer to my Answer to the hon. Member's previous Question of 13th July. The Estates Commissioners cannot, in fairness to other vendors and purchasers, deal with the agreements referred to in the first part of the Question out of the proper order of priority.