§ Mr. O'KELLYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether Mrs. Walpole, wife of Mr. W. J. Walpole, of Castlenode, Strokes-town, county Roscommon, has recently lodged with the Estates Commissioners an application for the purchase of the grazing ranch described on the Ordnance map as Cloneen Hartland, situate within two miles of Strokestown; whether Mr. Walpole has exhausted his borrowing powers by reason of his having purchased his residential farm at Castlenode; and whether, in view of the fact that there are between thirty and forty uneconomic landowners in this district, and that this ranch is urgently required by them for the purpose of relieving the congestion from which they now suffer, he will take steps to ensure that the hardship which would be entailed upon these small holders if Mr. Walpole, in the name of Mrs. Walpole, were allowed to purchase this ranch, will not be permitted?
§ Mr. BIRRELLMrs. Walpole has signed an agreement to purchase a holding at Cloneen, on the McCausland estate, of which she states she is the tenant, and her husband has signed an agreement to purchase his farm at Castlenode, on the Mahon estate. When the estates are reached in their order of priority due inquiry will be made by the Commissioners before the advances applied for are sanctioned.