§ Mr. D. BOYLEalso asked what pro-progress has been made by the Congested Districts Board in the purchase of the Nicholson estate, Attymass, county Mayo; if he is aware that several attempts have been made by the tenants to induce the landowner to sell under the Act of 1909; that, following these offers from the tenants, the estate bailiff has visited them with threats of forcing payment of arrears; and that the holdings on this estate are of the poorest and most congested character, the rent for which is invariably earned in the English harvest fields?
1247W
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board, having been informed that the owner was willing to negotiate for the sale of his estate through them, applied to the owner for the maps and other documents necessary for an inspection of the lands, but so far the documents have not been lodged. As regards the remainder of the question, the Board have no information except that contained in statements forwarded to them by or on behalf of the tenants.
Mr. POWERasked whether an application of Mr. Edward H. Power for the sale of his estate at Kilmacleague, county Waterford, has been lodged in or since 1908 with the Estates Commissioners; whether such application shows that no agreement for the sale of his holding to a tenant named Mr. John Ryan, of Kilmacleague, has been entered; whether he is aware that the owner has recently instituted ejectment proceedings against Mr. Ryan; and whether, when the Estates Commissioners are having the estate inspected, they will direct their inspector to report as to whether this holding ought to sold by the vendor to Mr. Ryan, and, in case the same is then in the vendor's possession, to report whether the Estates Commissioners ought to take steps for its compulsory acquisition.
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that this estate is being sold direct to the tenants by the owner under the Irish Land Act, 1903. John Ryan's name does not appear in the list of tenants on the estate pending for sale, and no agreement for the purchase of a holding by a tenant of that name has been lodged with the Commissioners. When the Commissioners are dealing with the estate in order of priority the case of any tenant who has not signed a purchase agreement will be inquired into. The Commissioners have no knowledge of the ejectment proceedings referred to.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in view of the offer of Mr. Charles M. O'Conor to sell his estate at Ballyroddy, near Elphin, county Roscommon, and the growing unrest in the neighbourhood owing to the need of relieving congestion there, if he can now say when the purchase will be completed and the land distributed?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board are informed by Mr. Charles O'Conor's solicitors that the maps and1248W other documents in connection with his estate at Ballyroddy will be lodged with the Board shortly. When received the Board will have the property inspected, as soon as practicable, with a view to deciding whether they will make an offer for it.
§ Mr. GINNELLalso asked how many local applicants of the classes intended by Parliament to receive untenanted land have applied for portions at Caldramoran, near Elphin, county Roscommon for how many of these is the land insufficient to provide portions; whether a portion is to be given to a man named M'Dermott, as an evicted tenant, whose father's farm at Gurteen, county Sligo, has been taken over by a shopkeeper named Michael Coffey for non-payment of a shop debt; and who, if anyone, has certified that M'Dermott is an evicted tenant in the ordinary sense?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board inform me that very few of the local applicants who applied for portions of the lands of Caldramoran on the C. M. O'Conor Estate, county Roscommon, are persons to whom the Board could give land. The applications of suitable persons willing to migrate to these lands who are in a position to surrender land for the enlargement of congested holdings will be fully considered. At the request of the Estates Commissioners the Board agreed to provide a holding for Mr. P. J. M'Dermott or his representative who was evicted from a holding on the De Freyne estate, Gurteen, county Sligo. The holding from which M'Dermott was evicted was occupied by a man named Coffey under a judicial tenancy when the Board purchased the estate. The Board subsequently purchased Coffey's interest in the land and allotted it in parcels for the enlargement of adjacent small holdings. M'Dermott has been selected by the Estates Commissioners as an evicted tenant suitable for a holding under the Evicted Tenants Act.