§ MR. SHEEHAN (Cork County, Mid.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to a resolution adopted at a meeting of the Cork Evicted Tenants' Association requesting the Estates Commissioners to approach the owners of the demesnes at Templemary, Buttevant, and Mount Leader, Millstreet, the sale, or intended sale, of which was recently announced, with a view to acquiring these lands for the benefit of the evicted tenants, and also asking them to enter into communication with the present owner of the untenanted lands at Drishane, Mr. P. Slack, Ballina-hown, Fermoy, so that these may also be acquired for the beneficent purposes of the Land Act of 1903; and whether it is intended to comply with this request in the manner mentioned.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have received a copy of the resolution referred to. Demesne lands cannot be acquired compulsorily under the Evicted Tenants Act, 1907, but the Commissioners will ascertain whether the owners are willing to sell the lands voluntarily.