§ MR. SHEEHAN (Cork County, Mid)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that in the year 1906 the Estates Commissioners addressed a public letter to the senior hon. Member for the city of Cork, to the effect that when any tenant or tenants on an estate refused to sign purchase agreements on the terms agreed upon by the general body of tenants, alleging special reasons why 1066 they should be exceptionally treated, the Commissioners would order a special inspection and inquiry into their complaints; whether this implied that such tenants would get the benefit of the special inspection and valuation of an estates inspector; was the case of Mrs. Twomey, of Kippagh, on the Colthurst estate, Ballyvourney, County Cork, specially inquired into in July, 1906, by Estates Inspector Lapdell, and can he state the recommendations contained in this gentleman's report; was the same case subsequently inquired into by Mr. Carroll, estates inspector, in the present year; and, seeing that, in accordance with the public undertaking of the Estates Commissioners, there were two inspections of Mrs. Twomey's holding, and having regard to the fact that she holds as a non-judicial tenant, will he explain why it is now proposed to exclude her compulsorily from the sale of this estate, unless she agrees to purchase on terms which would compel her to pay an exorbitant and impossible annuity, and why she will not get the benefit of the special valuation of her holding.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that in the letter referred to they stated that where a landlord asks to have a portion of a property declared an estate, omitting certain holdings on the ground that the tenants are unwilling to buy, it is their practice to inquire as to the causes of the omission and the reasonableness of the terms offered to and refused by the tenants. The inspector's visit to the property in 1906 had reference only to turbary, but when the property was being inspected this year the inspector inquired into the case of Mrs. Twomey and the other tenants who have not agreed to purchase. As Mrs. Twomey has not signed a purchase agreement she cannot be included in the sale.
§ MR. SHEEHANI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a number of tenants on the estate of Sir George Colthurst, Ballyvourney, did not claim from the Estates Commissioners a special inspection and valuation of their holdings, alleging that so far as 1067 they were concerned the terms offered to the general body of tenants would not meet the equities or circumstances of their cases, and that the Estates Commissioners officially informed the hon. Member for Mid Cork on more than one occasion that the special inspection asked for would be granted; will he explain why it is now proposed to deny these tenants, after over two years waiting, the benefit of any inspection or valuation; and is he aware that threatening notices have been served on them by the agents of the property with the connivance of the Estates Commissioners that unless they sign agreements immediately they will be excluded from the sale.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that certain tenants on this estate have declined to purchase on the terms agreed to by the vendor and the remainder of the tenants, some hundreds in number. The cases of the tenants who decline to purchase were fully inquired into by the Commissioners' inspector when he visited the property. The Commissioners have decided to allow the purchases already agreed upon to proceed, and the remaining holdings can be dealt with subsequently as a separate estate when the owner and the tenants come to terms.