§ MR. GINNELL (Westmeath, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord- 1436 Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that in the case of Mrs. Rose Riggs, evicted tenant, Westmeath, the Estates Commissioners have not yet exercised their compulsory powers, under the Evicted Tenants Act, 1907, for restoring Mrs. Riggs to her old farm of 50 acres, which is vacant and on the landlord's hands, but have offered her 25 acres of inferior land with no house on it; will he ascertain and state the reason for the neglect; and when will the Commissioners reinstate Mrs. Riggs in the farm from which she was capriciously evicted.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Estates Commissioners are of opinion that, having regard to Section 7 of the Evicted Tenants Act, they cannot acquire Mrs. Riggs's former holding compulsorily, and the owner is not prepared to reinstate her voluntarily. The Commissioners have offered to Mrs. Riggs 29 acres of land on an estate about three miles from her former holding, and have offered to build a house on the land and to give assistance in providing stock, but Mrs. Riggs has refused the offer. Mrs. Riggs is a widow seventy years of age, with but one daughter living at home, and the Commissioners are of opinion that the land which was offered to her is as much as she would be able to work.