§ 40. Mr. AUGUSTINE ROCHEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether Messrs. Scanlan, Walsh, and Allman were appointed trustees to administer, on behalf of the people of Bandon, county Cork, two fields adjoining that town; whether these trustees have rendered any account to any authority since these lands were given into their charge; what rent have they received; and what use have they put it to?
§ Mr. GULLANDThe Estates Commissioners cannot, from the particulars given, identify the case referred to.
§ 41. Mr. O'MALLEYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the maps have been lodged of the Kylemore estate, Connemara, with the Congested Districts Board with a view of sale; whether the Congested Districts Board have yet made an offer of purchase for this estate; and, if not, when an offer is to be made?
§ Mr. GULLANDThe maps and other documents in connection with the estate referred to have been lodged with the Congested Districts Board, and the property will be inspected and a decision arrived at regarding purchase as soon as practicable. The Board cannot at present say when an offer will be made.
§ 50. Mr. FFRENCHasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware that agreements were signed some five or six years 2057 ago by the tenants on the Jacob estate, South Wexford, under the Act of 1903; can he say what has caused the delay in issuing a vesting order; is there any money available at present for payment to those landlords who sold for cash; and, if so, can he say when the sale of the Jacob property will be completed?
§ Mr. GULLANDThis estate is on the principal register of direct sales (all cash) and, having regard to the claims of other estates, the Estates Commissioners are unable to say at present when it will be reached. The money available for land purchase advances during the current financial year is allocated amongst the various classes of sales in the manner provided by the Regulations made under Section 23 (8) of the Irish Land Act, 1903, and Section 4 of the Irish Land Act, 1909.
§ 52. Mr. FRANCIS MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the dates on which the purchase agreement forms for the purchase of the estate of II. J. B. Clements, at Manorhamilton, were lodged with the Estates Commissioners; and when will the estate be vested in its order of priority?
§ Mr. GULLANDThe purchase agreements referred to were lodged on 6th June, 1906. The Estates Commissioners cannot at present say when the holdings will be vested.
§ 53. Mr. FRANCIS MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that Michael McGowan, of Conwell North, Glenariffe, county Leitrim, an evicted tenant on the Johnston estate, whose name was listed for a Grant, has, through the mistake of another tenant getting his Grant, been deprived of a Grant; and whether, having regard to the insanitary condition of his dwelling house and the ill-health of his family, the Estates Commissioners would make him a Grant to enable him to repair his house and improve his position?
§ Mr. GULLANDThere was no mistake in this case such as suggested in the question. Michael McGowan's application was considered by the Estates Commissioners, and, in the exercise of their discretion, they refused to make him any Grant.
§ 56. Mr. O'DOWDasked whether the tenants of the Kildina estate of Lord de Freyne, that portion situate in Clooloo, rural district of Boyle (No. 2), county Sligo, so long ago as November, 1904, 2058 signed purchase agreements to the effect that in lieu of turbary the rent of every tenant would be reduced by 5 per cent., the purchase money to be calculated on the basis of the reduced rent; that interest on purchase price be charged at 3½ per cent. for a period of five years, thereafter to be at the reduced rate of 3½ per cent.; whether the Congested Districts Board, in whose hands the administration of the estate now rests, have ignored this agreement duly entered into, and are still pressing for the 3½ per cent. calculated on the old rent; and, if so, what steps will be taken with a view to securing for these tenants the terms to which they are justly entitled?
§ Mr. GULLANDUnder the agreement signed by the majority of the tenants on the Sligo section of this estate in November, 1904, no reference appears to a reduction of 5 per cent. off the tenants' rents in lieu of turbary in calculating the purchase price of the holdings, nor was any limit fixed for the payment of interest. The tenants agreed to pay interest at 3½ per cent. until the holdings became vested in them. The Congested Districts Board, however, hope to provide turbary for all the tenants.