§ MR. VINCENT KENNEDYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, if he will state whether some eight tenants on the Crookenden and Casey estate, County Cavan, were visited by the sheriff on the 12th March, and at what hour; had the sheriff an escort, and what was its composition; what did the sheriff realise; will any charge fall on the ratepayers for this expedition; and will he represent to the Estates Commissioners the urgency of having this sale put through if the tenants are not to be made paupers on the eve of the sale taking place.
§ MR. BIRRELLIn the eight cases referred to, in which purchase agreements have been lodged, the tenants had failed to pay the interest due on their purchase money, and proceedings were therefore taken by the Land Commission for the recovery of the interest. On 12th March, at 7 a.m., the sheriff, protected by a force of fifty police, visited the holdings in order to execute the decrees, but failed to make any seizure because the tenants had removed their cattle. The police belonged to the county force, and no charge, therefore, can be made against the local authorities. I am informed that out of 437 tenants who have lodged purchase agreements only sixteen, including the eight in question, have failed to pay the interest due 1st May last, The Estates Commissioners are considering the question of purchasing the estate themselves.