§ MR. HAYDEN (Roscommon, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether it is proposed by the Estates Commissioners to make advances for the purchase on the Goodall estate, in the county Roscommon, of certain holdings to which the Land Law Acts do not apply; how many holdings of this description are on the estate and the area of the same; what is the amount of the proposed advances; whether the Commissioners are aware that a portion of these lands belonged to the adjoining tenants until a few years before the Act of 1870, when they were evicted, not for nonpayment of rent, but in pursuance of the scheme for the creation of large grass ranches; and whether advantage will be taken by the Commissioners of the opportunity given to them by the sale of the estate to limit the advances, and to use a portion of these lands for the purpose of enlarging the small holdings on the estate.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) I refer my Answer to the hon. Member's previous Question of 10th March. The Estates 1612 Commissioners intend to declare the excluded holdings to be a separate estate, but before this is done the vendor proposes to place a portion of the land comprised in the holdings to which the Land Law Acts do not apply at the disposal of the Commissioners, for the enlargement of uneconomic holdings and the reinstatement of evicted tenants. In the present stage of the proceedings the Commissioners are not in a position to give the details asked for in the Question.