§ Mr. GINNELLasked if the Chief Secretary will say, in view of the new definition of congestion, how many holdings under £10 valuation have been sold to tenants on Colonel Malone's estate, Westmeath; and whether the Estates Commissioners will now propose to purchase the grass ranches on that estate for the relief of the existing congestion?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI am informed by the Estates Commissioners that there are 36 holdings on this estate with a Poor Law Valuation of less than £10. The holdings were vested in the purchasing tenants in 1907. As regards the concluding portion of the question, the hon. Member was informed, in reply to a question asked by him in December, 1906, that the grass farms on the estate were held under lease, or yearly tenancies, and that the Commissioners had no power to compel such farms to be sold to them as untenanted land.