§ 18. Mr. BOLANDasked the Chief Secretary whether, in view of the fact that the Congested Districts Board has purchased the Fuller estate, near Cahirciveen, he will 2196 state when the work of improvement will be taken in hand?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis estate is not likely to be vested in the Congested Districts Board for some months, but, when it is, improvement works will be commenced.
§ 26. Mr. PATRICK WHITEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he will state if the farm on the Nicholson estate at Hosath, county Meath, for the purchase of which an advance was applied for by David Farrell, a minor, and refused by the Commissioners, has recently been inspected by officers of the Commissioners, and with what object; and whether he can state if an advance to purchase the same farm was recently, or is now being, sought for, and by whom?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have refused to make the advance applied for in the purchase agreement signed by Farrell. The lands were visited in connection with their exclusion from the sale of the estate. The reply to the last paragraph of the question is in the negative.
§ 28. Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the Estates Commissioners' inspector, Mr. E. Gallen, in dividing the untenanted lands of Rhyne, on the Bond estate, county Longford, omitted to provide for William Hughes, Rhyne, whose total acreage is three acres at a small valuation; for John Brady, of Rhyne, whose total acreage is eight acres and whose valuation is £6 10s.; for Nicholas Murtagh, Rhyne, whose total acreage is four acres and whose valuation is £4; and for Thomas Maguire, Rhyne, whose total acreage is three and a half acres and whose valuation is £2 15s., whilst granting to one person, a former herd on the property, an area of thirty acres of these untenanted lands; whether, as this is a matter of importance and urgency, he will immediately call for a report from Mr. Gallen as to his reasons in disqualifying these applicants and not giving a share of these lands to one William Hughes, one of the applicants, who is the son of. a tenant evicted from a large farm some twenty years ago on the same estate; whether it is the policy of the Estates Commissioners to make economic holdings by granting additional acres to such tenants as are set out above; whether their policy was carried out by Mr. Gallen 2197 in his recent division of Rhyne; and if he will now insist, before putting the tenants into possession, that the matter be inquired into with a view to providing for these uneconomic landholders?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe allotment of the untenanted land referred to was made by the Estates Commissioners after inquiry and in the exercise of the discretion vested in them. It is the practice of the Commissioners, when dividing up lands to provide, where practicable, an allotment for the herd, and it is impossible to provide allotments for all applicants. The allottees approved of by the Commissioners have signed undertakings to purchase the parcels allotted to them, and have already been put in possession thereof, and the suggestion that the allotment be reconsidered cannot be entertained.
§ 30. Mr. DORISasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the Congested Districts Board have yet issued an offer for the purchase of the estate of Miss Olivia Crean-Lynch, county Mayo, or when they expect to be able to do so?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board have issued an offer for the purchase of this property, and they are at present in correspondence with the owner regarding it.
§ 31. Mr. DORISasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether negotiations are proceeding between the Congested Districts Board and Mr. Fitzgerald-Kenny as to the sale of his estate in county Mayo; and when the Board hope to be in a position to issue an offer for the estate?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNegotiations are proceeding between the Congested Districts Board and Mr. Fitzgerald-Kenny regarding the sale of his property, but the Board are not at present in a position to give any further information on the subject.
§ 32. Mr. DORISasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the Congested Districts Board have yet issued an offer for the purchase of the estate of the Marquess of Sligo; and, if not, what has been the cause of the delay, and when the offer will be issued?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board have not yet issued an offer for the purchase of this estate, but they hope to do so at an early date. There has been no avoidable delay in the matter.