§ Mr. LONSDALEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if Mr. John Fitzgibbon, of Castlerea, county Roscommon, recently purchased a farm for £1,900 by means of an advance to that amount under the Land Purchase Act of 1903; and whether the same farm was resold by Mr. Fitzgibbon within a few months to the Congested Districts Board for the sum of £4,250?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe farm referred to was not purchased by Mr. Fitzgibbon by means of an advance under the Land Purchase Acts. He paid £l,900 cash for the farm subject to a purchase annuity calculated on an advance of £.3,003 made to the previous occupier. He then redeemed the outstanding portion of the advance by a payment in stock and cash of £2,421, and sold the farm, discharged of the advance, to the Congested Districts Board, for £4,250. That sum was advanced to the Board under the Act of 1903, and the bonus on it amounted to £510, making in 733 all £4,760 paid to Mr. Fitzgibbon as against £4,321 expended by him in buying the farm and redeeming the charge on it. He would appear to have made £439 on the transaction.
§ Mr. LONSDALEIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that Mr. Fitzgibbon is an official of the United Irish League?
§ Mr. BIRRELLHe does not seem to me to have made a remarkably good bargain in this case.