§ MR. WILLIAM ABRAHAM (Cork County, N.E.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state whether any action has been taken by the Estates Commissioners to bring about the reinstatement of Mrs. Kelleher in the farm at Quartertown, Mallow, on the estate of C. A. Webb, from which her husband, since deceased, was evicted; if the holding has since been occupied by an emergency man named Woods, and is now in the possession of his cousin; whether inquiry will be made into the tenure Woods possessed, and if the present occupier has any bona fide interest; and whether, in view of the methods employed to 1501 compel the tenants on this estate to sign purchase agreements and to the high prices fixed, an inspection of the estate will be made before these agreements receive the sanction of the Estates Commissioners.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Estates Commissioners have inquired into the claim of Mrs. Kelleher, and have decided that she is suitable to work a holding if one can be found for her. The Commissioners have ascertained that the holding occupied by her late husband was taken on lease for thirty-one years by Richard Woods, who disposed of his interest in March, 1907, to a man named Moore, the present occupier. The matter is under the Commissioners' consideration. The Commissioners are not aware that undue pressure was exercised to induce the tenants on the estate to sign purchase agreements, but will be prepared, when dealing with the estate, to consider any representations to that effect which may be made to them.