§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he will say at what sum the Estates Commissioners estimated the value of the untenanted land on the Reid and M'Endoo estate, Westmeath; whether they proposed to purchase it at that sum for relief of congestion; at what price was it subsequently sold to the rancher by the Land Judge; is any public money to be advanced to carry out that sale; how many uneconomic landholders and landless men in the neighbourhood applied to become purchasers of portions of the land for the full value; and what alternative, other than emigration, do the Government now offer to those men?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that they received certain applications from persons asking to be allotted parcels of the lands referred to if required. As stated in the reply to the hon. Member's question for the 22nd November last these lands were not the subject of proceedings for sale before the Estates Commissioners, and they made no estimate of its value. The lands were sold by public auction in the Land Judge's1192W Court, the price, £7,400, being paid by the purchaser in cash. No public money was advanced in connection with the sale.