§ Mr. DEVLINasked the Chief Secretary what progress has been made with the sale of Lord Antrim's Ballycastle estate; if the Estates Commissioners are aware that a body of tenants in the townlands of Glem-makeeran and Ballypatrick on that estate have refused to sign the purchase agreements on the ground that their holdings are uneconomic, the land being in reality overcut bog high up a mountain side; if he is aware that there is a tract of mountain grazing adjoining the holdings which, if divided among the tenant's, would improve their position, and that this mountain formerly belonged to the tenants or their predecessors and was taken by the landlord to make a ranch for a Scotch planter; and will the Estates Commissioners inquire into the demands and grievances of these tenants and into the whole circumstances of the estate before they sanction the sale or give the landlord a bonus?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe purchase agreements in the case of this estate were not lodged with the Estates Commissioners until October, 1908, and the property cannot be dealt with for some considerable time to come. When the estate is being inspected due inquiry will be made with regard to the matters referred to by the hon. Member.