§ Mr. WILLIAM ABRAHAMTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state whether the Estates Commissioners have investigated the claim of Mr. Austin Rice for reinstatement in Coole farm, on the Peard estate, Castlelyons, County Cork, from which his father was evicted in 1886; whether the farm has since been taken by Mr. M'Cauland, who sub-lets the land on the 11 months system; and if the Estates Commissioners can take any action to bring about the reinstatement of Mr. Rice in the holding.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Estates Commissioners inform me that an application was received from Mrs. Margaret Rice for reinstatement on a holding on the Peard estate from which her late husband had been evicted. The Commissioners consider Mrs. Rice to be a suitable person to work a farm, and they are in communication with the present owners of the holding with a view to her reinstatement. An application was recently received from her son, Austin Rice, for reinstatement on the same holding, and the application was considered with that of Mrs. Rice.