§ Mr. DUFFYasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that the Congested Districts Board have opened negotiations for the purchase of the Sharpe estate, in the parish of Kinvarra, county Galway; and whether, seeing that 50 per cent, of the tenants are householders in the town of Kinvarra, he will represent to the Congested Districts Board the desirability, in the interest of the commercial prosperity of the town as well as the peace of the district, of affording the town tenants the same facilities for the acquisition of their houses as the Board is prepared to give to the agricultural tenants on the same property?
§ Mr. BIRRELL:The Congested Districts Board are not empowered to purchase town holdings for resale to the occupiers unless such town forms part of an estate that is mainly agricultural. No detailed information has been furnished to the 1676W Board that would enable them to form an opinion as to whether the Sharpe estate comes within this category.