§ 11. Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland the number of holdings on Captain Smyth's Coole estate, Westmeath, excluded from the sale, with their aggregate area, Poor Law valuation, and rent, and the rate this is per acre; how much this exceeds the average rent per acre on the estate; the amount the Estates Commissioners were willing to advance for the purchase of these holdings; whether the Commissioners attempted or suggested, or are willing to consider, an arrangement by insurance or otherwise that would enable these holdings to pass to the occupants like the rest of the estate; whether there is any non-residential land in the vicinity that could be attached to them to render them purchasable; whether the Commissioners, having rejected these tenants' purchase agreements, will take immediate steps to secure or recover for them the same rights of turbary they enjoyed before signing those agreements, and which are now denied them; and, relief of congestion being one of the objects of land purchase, if he will say what the Government propose to do for these tenants who, and whose landlord, want to sever their connection, but who, because of congestion, are said to be outside both the rent-fixing laws and the purchase laws?
§ The CHIEF SECRETARY for IRELAND (Mr. Birrell)The number of holdings on this estate not included in the lands sold under the Irish Land Act, 1903, appears to be twenty-eight, in respect of seven of which purchase agreements were not entered into. Agreements in respect of the remaining twenty-one holdings, which consist of houses and plots in the village of Coole, were entered into between the vendor and the tenants, but the Estates Commissioners did not consider them security for the total amount 1210 of the advances applied for, and as the parties did not come to an arrangement as to the balance to be paid in cash the purchase agreements were dismissed. The amount the Commissioners were prepared to advance in respect of these twenty-one holdings was £585. The aggregate area of the twenty-eight holdings is 58 acres, the rental £70 3s. 6d., equal to £1 4s. 2d. per acre. The Commissioners are not in a position to state the Poor Law valuation. The average rent per acre of the holdings on the estate is 14s. 3d. The advances applied for having been refused, the purchase agreements entered into are null and void, and the tenants revert to their former position as if the purchase agreements had not been entered into. The Commissioners do not propose to take any further action in these cases.
§ 13. Mr. DORISasked whether the Sale of the estate of Mr. D. G. FitzGerald, Turlough, county Mayo, to the Congested Districts Board has yet been completed, or the cause of the delay in completion of the sale?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board inform me that the sale of this estate has not yet been completed; but it is believed that the difficulties which arose in completing the sale have now been removed, and that the agreement for purchase will be entered into at an early date.
§ 14. Mr. DORISasked whether kelp gatherers along the West Mayo coast have recently been requested to pay the usual royalties to the Marquess of Sligo for this year; and whether they are now liable for such charges, having regard to the estate purchase agreement between the Congested Districts Board and Lord Sligo?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board inform me that the persons who have arranged to purchase the seaweed from Lord Sligo this year are liable for the payment to him of the usual charges.
§ 15. Mr. DORISasked whether the sale of the estate of the Marquess of Sligo to the Congested Districts Board has yet been completed or when, approximately, it will be completed; and what is the cause of the delay?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board inform me that the difficulties which arose in connection with the proposal for the purchase of this estate have recently been disposed of, and the Board's offer has now been finally accepted.