§ MR. SHEEHANI beg to ask the Chief-Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a demand made by the Irish Land and Labour Association that a certain proportion of the untenanted lands in each locality should be specially set apart to meet the claims of the labourers, and urging that, as a special Labourers Department has now been set up in the Local Government Board to deal with purely labour matters, the allocation and distribution of the untenanted land so set apart should be entrusted to this Department, also claiming that access to this untenanted land should be fixed as a reward for superior intelligence, industry, and thrift amongst the labouring population; and, seeing the dissatisfaction which exists everywhere amongst the labourers over the present method of the distribution of untenanted land by the Estates Commissioners, and which has led to serious disorder in several counties, will he say whether this matter has engaged, or will engage, the attention of the Government, with a view to the inclusion of suitable ameliorative provisions, on the lines mentioned, in the forthcoming Land Bill.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe demand referred to substantially amounts to a claim that a portion of the untenanted land purchased by the Estates Commissioners for the enlargement of small holding and the other purpose of the Act should be specially set apart for the creation of holdings for agricultural labourers. I would remind the hon. Member that Parliament has in recent years made substantial provision for agricultural labourers in Ireland in the shape of cottages and suitable plots of land, and I cannot hold out any hope that the forthcoming Land Bill will contain proposals in the direction which the hon. Member desires.