§ Mr. FLYNNasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the Estates Commissioners have taken all the circumstances of the case into consideration before lodging the writ of f1. fa. with the sub-sheriff in the matter of Daniel Curtin, estate of the assignees of D. F. Leahy, county Cork, S. 34956/9; are the Commissioners aware 1802W that, though Curtin signed the purchase agreement in June, 1907, it was conditional on his receiving a grant for stocking the holding; that, though the Reverend Father Dwyer, C.C., Freemount, applied several times to the Commissioners, the grant was not given to Curtin until May, 1909, and that he was therefore not in a position to work the holding to any advantage; and whether, having regard to all the facts of the case, the Commissioners will withdraw the writ and accept payment of interest on foot of his purchase undertaking from May, 1909, the date upon which the grant was given to him?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that the reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. Curtin had a second-term judicial rent fixed in January, 1904, in respect of a holding of 120 acres in county Cork, and such rent was confirmed on appeal. The Commissioners, after inspection, fixed the price of the holding at £1,150, which is only 20.1 years' purchase of this second-term rent, and Curtin signed an undertaking to purchase the holding from them at this price, and contracted to pay interest in lieu of rent at the usual rate of 3½ per cent. from 27th April, 1908, on which date the property was purchased by the Commissioners and vested in them by the land judge. Curtin owed 3½ years' rent on that date, which was forgiven, and he has not paid the Land Commission any interest in lieu of rent since that date. The Commissioners sanctioned in his case a free grant of £100 for the purchase of live stock and a loan of £100 for farm buildings, to be repaid as part of his purchase annuity, and when the buildings were completed the grant for stock was expended. The reply to the concluding paragraph of the question is in the negative. The Commissioners consider that Curtin, who has paid neither rent nor interest in lieu thereof since September, 1904, and whose rent is a second-term rent confirmed, on appeal, has been most considerately dealt with.