§ Mr. FRANCIS MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the tenants on the estate of Messrs. Hosie and Vaugh, situated in the district of Ballinaglera, county Leitrim, purchased their holdings under the Land Act of 1903, and, after paying interest to the Land Commission for over 18 months, they were given notice to pay up all arrears of rent in April last, as the Estates Commissioners refused to pass the lands as an estate; and whether, having regard to these facts, he would, in the interest of peace in the district and justice to the tenants, recommend that the sale should go through, and thus avert the enforced payment of arrears, which, according to the terms of sale, had been forgiven?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI am informed by the Estates Commissioners that the owner entered into agreements to sell this property direct to the tenants under the Irish Land Act, 1903, but the Commissioners did not consider that the property was one which, in its present condition, should be declared fit to be regarded as a separate estate for the purposes of the Act, and they therefore refused to so declare it. I have no power to interfere with the discretion of the Commissioners in such castes.