§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state the number of tenant farmers in Ireland who have purchased or agreed to purchase under all the Purchase Acts from 1870 up to the present date.
§ MR. BIRRELLI am informed by the Land Commission that the number of purchasers to whom advances had been made under the various Land Purchase Acts from 1870 up to 30th October last was 143,545; the number who had agreed to purchase but to whom advances had not been made was 149,501; making a total of 293,046 who had either purchased or agreed to purchase up to that date.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDHow many bought under the Purchase Acts from 1870 to 1903, and how many since 1903?
§ MR. BIRRELLI cannot give the hon. Member those figures. The purchase money under all the Acts up to 1903 amounted to something like £21,000,000.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDAre we then to understand that during five years under the Act of 1903 a considerably greater number bought than under all the previous Acts?
§ MR. BIRRELLYes, undoubtedly.