§ Mr. HACKETTasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that at a meeting of the County Committee of Agriculture, Tipperary, N.R., held at Nenagh on the 3rd instant, attention was drawn to the fact that large tracts of woodlands in the county, situated on estates that have been sold under the Land Purchase Acts, are being rapidly cut down and no provision made for replanting; and whether he can state what steps the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction and the Estates Commissioners propose to take in order to prevent this destruction of woodlands in this county?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNeither the Estates Commissioners nor the Department of Agriculture have received any communication from the county committee regarding this matter. Section 32 of the Irish Land Act, 1909, provides that if the proprietor of a holding, in respect of which an advance under the Land Purchase Acts has been made, or a purchase agreement entered into, after the passing of the Act of 1909, cuts down or permits to be cut down-any tree (other than a fruit tree or osier) on his holding which is necessary for the ornament or shelter of the holding without first obtaining the consent thereto of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, he is liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding £5 for each tree cut down. Only two such applications from county Tipperary have so far been dealt with by the Department under the Act. It is open to the county committee or any other interested persons to bring the cases of which they complain under the notice of the Department of Agriculture.