§ Mr. JOHN ROCHEasked if certain tenants on the Grattan Bellew estate, county Galway, were allowed to retain and purchase large tracts of grazing lands, while the tenants of uneconomic holdings in the vicinity were left unprovided for; and was any tenant advanced an amount for the purchase of these grass lands in excess of the limit provided by the Act of 1903; and, if so, will he say why this was done?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners acquired some 1,700 acres of untenanted land on this estate, and have utilised same for the enlargement of small holdings. They had no power to compel a tenant of a large holding to surrender it for the purposes of distribution. The 2046 reply to the last paragraph of the question is in the negative.
§ Mr. JOHN ROCHEasked the reasons why the Estates Commissioners did not deem all the sub-tenants of Mr. James Colleran on the Grattan Bellew estate, county Galway, direct tenants; allow them to purchase and provide them with economic holdings; was an exception made in the case of John Clarke, and why was this differentiation made?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inquired into and considered the case of the sub-tenants referred to. In the exercise of the discretion vested in them they did not see fit, save in the case of John Clarke, to declare the parcels of land in the occupation of the sub-tenants fit to be deemed separate holdings for the purposes of sale under the Land Purchase Acts.
§ Mr. JOHN ROCHEasked whether the estate of Mr. Patrick Mitchell, in the townland of Moyloughbeg, parish of Moylough, county Galway, has been offered for sale to the Congested Districts Board; and, if so, when will the purchase be completed?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis estate has been offered for sale to the Congested Districts Board, and a decision will be arrived at regarding the purchase of the property as soon as practicable.
§ Mr. JOHN ROCHEasked whether the Congested Districts Board or Estates Commissioners are taking steps to acquire or have acquired the lands of Pulladeen, Tomree, and Kulturlough, parish of Moylough, from Sir H. Grattan Bellew; and whether care will be taken that in the division of these lands the most deserving cases will receive consideration?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe lands referred to are held by Mr. Rorke, one holding being held under lease and two under judicial tenancies. The Congested Districts Board have made an offer for two of the holdings, and are in negotiation for the third, in connection with a proposal to purchase the Rorke estate near Tuam. If the Board acquire these lands for distribution they will, in accordance with their usual practice, take care to utilise them in the most beneficial manner.
§ Mr. MEAGHERasked whether the Estates Commissioners have yet received any reply to their letter to the solicitors of the Wandesford, county Kilkenny, 2047 estate, in the matter of the case of Finton Lalor, D.C., who has not signed the purchase agreement owing to the price asked by the landlord and was satisfied to leave the determination of the price between him and the landlord to the judgment of the Estates Commissioners?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have requested the vendor's solicitors to lodge an agreement in respect of Lalor's holding, and they have replied that the tenant is being communicated with as to the purchase of his holding, and if terms are arranged an agreement will be lodged as soon as possible. The holding in question is subject to a judicial rent, and as the estate is being purchased by the tenants direct from the owner the question of price is a matter of agreement between the parties, and not for the Commissioners, who have no power to fix a price in a case of this kind.
§ Mr. MEAGHERasked if the sale of the Ballydowell estate, county Kilkenny, of Charles E. Barry and others is yet completed; and, if so, if the holding on this estate occupied by Thomas Holmes, who is a planter on the estate, is included in the sale; and, if not, in view of the fact that Holmes is already in possession of upwards of 500 acres of such land, he will see that the sale to him is not sanctioned, in view of the fact that it is urgently required for evicted tenants and others legally entitled to portions thereof?
§ Mr. BIRRELLAn agreement signed by Robert Holmes for the purchase of the holding occupied by him on the Barry estate, county Kilkenny, direct from the owner, has been lodged with the Estates Commissioners, who have sanctioned an advance being made to Holmes for the purchase of this holding, which will shortly be vested in him.
§ Mr. MEAGHERasked whether Darby Scully, of Silverfort, Fethard, had offered for sale to the Estates Commissioners his estate of untenanted land at Ballylahane, county Kilkenny; if so, what steps, if any, have been taken to acquire it; and, in view of the fact that an amount of congestion exists in the immediate neighbourhood on this estate, would he see that immediate steps are taken to acquire it for the purpose of retrieving congestion and restoring evicted tenants who are still unprovided for?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis estate has not been offered for sale to the Estates Com- 2048 missioners, who are, however, at present in communication with the owner as to whether he is willing to negotiate for the sale to them of the lauds referred to.