§ MR. FFRENCHTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that agreements for purchase up to £65,000,000 will be lodged before 1st November next; whether the bonus exhausted on that amount at 12 per cent, will be about £8,000,000; will the Government devote the remaining £4,000,000 for the re-instatement of the evicted tenants and the relief of the congested districts; and, if not, can he say what the Government proposes to do with it.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The agreements for purchase lodged up to the present in respect of direct sales and sales to the Land Commission represent about £64,000,000. The term of five years prescribed under the Act for the payment of the bonus at 12 per cent, will not expire until 1st November next. The Government are not at present prepared to make any statement as to the possible revision in the terms or percentage of the bonus after that date. A measure dealing with the subject of congestion is, as already announced, to be introduced during the coming autumn sitting.