§ MR. CHARLES CRAIGI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a large proportion of the untenanted grass land which has been parcelled out to new tenants in Galway and other counties in Ireland has been already sub-let by the new owners as grass farms; and whether, in view of the declared intention of the Government to turn these grass lands into tillage farms, they propose to take any further steps in this direction.
§ MR. BIRRELLI have no information to the effect stated in the first part of the Question, and the Estates Commissioners inform me that they also have no knowledge that the fact is as stated. I am not aware that the Government have declared their intention to turn grass farms into tillage farms.
§ MR. CHARLES CRAIGIs it not the fact that people have sub-let these farms at rents representing three or four times as much as they are paying the Estates Commissioners?
§ MR. BIRRELLThere is a legal question involved in regard to these tenancies, and it is not for me to express an opinion.