§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention had been called to the loss and inconvenience caused by the continued application of the term demesne to tracts of land in Ireland upon which no mansion-house had stood for more than fifty years, and which were thus withheld from use for labourers, railways, and other public purposes; and whether he would have the official and inspectors instructed to report in future all those pseudo-demesnes, with a view to scheduling them, depriving them of a character to which they are not entitled, and making them available for beneficial purposes to the same extent as other land of the class to which they really belonged?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYWhere a vendor claims that lands proposed to be acquired by the Estates Commissioners or the Congested Districts Board cannot be so acquired on the ground that they are demesne lands, the matter is determined in accordance with the provisions of the Land Purchase Acts. Inspectors employed on the inspection of estates, the subject of proceedings under these Acts, cannot be withdrawn from such work to make any such general inquiry as that suggested in the concluding portion of the question.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary if he would state the number of estates now in the Land Judge's Court for sale, and the number of tenants on estates in that court imprisoned by order of Mr. Justice Ross; whether he was aware that the rents of those estates were not spent on them or in Ireland, but went to money-lending mortgagees, and that all the tenants desired to purchase their holdings at the value in the manner provided by Parliament; and, with property for sale, willing buyers, a Department to ascertain the value, and compulsory powers conferred by Parliament, whether he would have the land question settled on those estates by application of those powers?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYThere are no persons at present in prison under the order of the Land Judge. I am not in a position to state the number of estates pending for sale in the Land Judge's Court, and to make the necessary investigation would involve serious delay in transacting the business of the court. The Estates Commissioners have purchased estates in this court to the value of a million and a-half.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary whether the jurisdiction of the Irish Land Judge over estates in his court for sale was limited to sale and temporary management pending the sale; and seeing that some of the estates that had been in that court for sale during the last thirty years still remained unsold, to the detriment of the country, if he would say why the compulsory powers of sale provided by Parliament were not applied to those estates?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYSpeaking generally, the jurisdiction of the Land Judge has reference to the sale of estates in his court, and pending sale to the management under the court. No avoidable delay has been permitted by the court in bringing estates to sale, but there are some cases in which, owing to complexity of title and other difficulties, considerable but unavoidable delay has taken place.
§ Mr. GINNELLDoes not the right hon. Gentleman consider thirty years too long to spend in the attempt to sell an estate?
§ Mr. REDMOND BARRYI think it is admitted that it is a long time.