§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that Captain Smyth, a Westmeath landlord, agreed two years ago to sell all his tenanted estates at reductions of 7s. in the £ on first-term and non-judicial rents, and 5s. in the £ on second-term rents, all arrears to be remitted, and, while carrying out those terms on all the other estates, and receiving interest in lieu of rent, in the case of the Coole estate goes back on his own proposal, which all the tenants accepted, refuses to sell, and demands the accumulated rents on the old scale; whether the Estates Commissioner? will, in these circumstances, exercise their power under the Act of 1909 to compel him to carry out his agreement with the tenants, or to sell the holdings at such price as the Commissioners find them to be worth; and if any further action on the tenants' part is necessary to induce the Commissioners to do this, will he say what it is?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI am informed that the purchase agreements in the case of the estate of Captain Thomas James Smyth, to which the hon. Member presumably refers, were lodged in the form prescribed under the Irish Land Act, 1903, in the Land Commission by the owner, but as they were 1160 not lodged until after the date mentioned in Section 13 (b) of the Irish Land Act, 1909, they could not be dealt with as "pending purchase agreements," and have accordingly been returned for amendment under the new Act, or to be replaced by new agreements.
§ MEMBER SWORN.—Mr. Maurice Healy, for the County of Cork (North-Eastern Division), in the place of Mr. William O'Brien, who, having been returned for more than one constituency, had elected to sit for Cork City.