THE EARL OF ARRANasked Her Majesty's Government whether they would furnish a Return showing for each county the names of the estates and the names of the town lands on which the 1003 holdings of those tenants were situated, together with the names of the tenants included in Appendix III. of the Evicted Tenants Commission, and giving the date at which applications for re-instatement were made, and to whom such applications were addressed? He said: It appeared, from page 7 of the Report, that the Lord Lieutenant gave instructions for inquiry and report respecting estates where the tenancy or holding had been determined since the 1st May, 1889, and in respect of which holdings claims to be reinstated had been made by the tenants evicted there from now resident in Ireland. Inasmuch as the Commission was appointed at the same time as those instructions were given, it was obvious that the Lord Lieutenant's instructions referred to cases where claims were made previous to the appointment of the Commission, of which the landlords had entire cognisance, by men with whom negotiations would have probably been carried on to arrive at an arrangement upon a basis as to which there could be no mistake. But the Commission appeared to have taken a different view of the instructions. On page 10 they said, "We have received many claims from tenants"; and, therefore, it would appear that they consider-that the instructions directed them, or at any rate, authorised them, to receive new claims from tenants themselves. Accordingly, they did so receive them. He thought, with the greatest respect, that the Commissioners were in error, and had exceeded their powers; and, whether that was so or not, they had certainly opened the door for great abuses. Claims were made of which the landlords knew nothing, and which certainly would not have been made if the Commission had not been appointed, and in the hope that at the last moment something might turn up to the claimants' advantage. This Return would enable such claims to be tested, and would enable Parliament to arrive at a more accurate judgment in the matter than was possible from the Returns as they now stood. The Secretary of the Commission was, no doubt, in full possession of all data.
§ LORD ACTONsaid, that the particulars asked for were furnished in a Report published the day before yester- 1004 day, from pp. 460 to 567, and which would be in the hands of the noble Lords to-morrow.