§ 20. Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary if he is now in a position to say how many of the grazier tenants on Lady Chapman's estate, Westmeath, are held by the Estates Commissioners competent to buy, under the Land Purchase Acts, the nonresidential farms on which they are restricted from building and tilling, and the number of acres in each case; how many acres remain for distribution among congested and landless people; whether all the residential tenants have yet signed purchase agreements; in what way, if at all, the tenants have been consulted regarding the disposal of the estate; and by what date the Commissioners expect to be able to deal with the estate?
§ Mr. BIRRELLAll the tenants on this estate who hold under yearly tenancies but restricted to pasturage come within the classes of persons who can buy their holdings under the Land Purchase Acts. The acreage comprised in these tenancies is some 990 acres. The area of untenanted land offered by the vendor to the Commissioners is 600 acres, but, at the present stage of the negotiations, the Estates Commissioners are not prepared to make any statement as to the area of land which may eventually be available for distribution. Undertakings to purchase have not yet been lodged with the Commissioners. The estate has not yet been acquired by the Commissioners and they have not made any arrangements for its disposal. They cannot at present say when it may be vested in them.
§ 23. Mr. GINNELLasked whether the Estates Commissioners are about to purchase the lands of Lispopple and Dyrra, the property of the late Hugh P. Wilson, near Coole, Westmeath; if so, what the area is; whether it will be distributed among suitable landless people and occupants of uneconomic holdings in the vicinity; and when the distribution is likely to be carried out?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners are unable from the particulars furnished to identify the property referred to as being the subject of proceedings for sale before them under the Irish Land Acts.