§ Mr. HAZLETONasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland what is the present position with regard to the purchase by the Congested Districts Board of the Blake estate, Kilgeorin, parish of Milltown, county Galway?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board have purchased Mr. James Lynch's 715W fee simple interest in the lands of Kilgeverin, of which Mr. Blake has a lease in perpetuity. The Board have no power to acquire the lands compulsorily from Mr. Blake, as they are held under lease.
§ Mr. HAZLETONasked on what grounds the Estates Commissioners, who bought the Dangan estate, Killererin, Galway, three years ago, sold to Mr. C. Phibbs the farm of 177 acres on the estate which he held under a lease of thirty-two years, subject to renewal every seven years, and with no right to sub-let or set in conacre, while on the same property there were seventeen tenants with an average acreage of seven.
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners inform me that Charles Phibbs was tenant of the lands under a lease for thirty-five years from 1st May, 1898, and, as such, was entitled to purchase his holding under the Land Purchase Acts, and it was vested in him in accordance with the provisions of those Acts.
Mr. HEALYasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that, on the sale of the Purcell estate at Graigue, Shanballymore, county Cork, some years ago, the farm known as the Great House, from which a tenant named Lyons had been formerly evicted, was not then tenanted and was in the landlord's hands; whether he is aware that a man named Fiddler was returned fictitiously as being in occupation and that the estate bailiff has now become the purchasing tenant; whether the attention of the Estates Commissioners has been called to these facts; and what has become of the application for the reinstatement of Lyons?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners received an application from Michael Lyons for reinstatement in a holding formerly occupied by him on the Purcell estate, county Cork, and, after inquiry and consideration, decided to take no action in the matter of his application. Charles O'Neill, as tenant in occupation, signed an agreement to purchase the holding from the landlord under the Land Purchase Acts, and it was vested in him by the Commissioners in October, 1911.
§ Mr. LUNDONasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland when the Barry estate at Ballyadock, Mitchelstown, county Cork, was purchased; what is the reason for its not being vested in the tenants as adjoining estates purchased long after it have been; and will the landlord be paid in cash or stock, or can any hope be held out 716W as to what date the purchase will be completed?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThis estate is the subject of proceedings for sale direct by the owner to the tenants under the Irish Land Act, 1903, and the purchase agreements entered into between the parties were lodged in March, 1908. The estate will be dealt with in order of priority on the principal register of direct sales (all cash), but having regard to the claims of other estates, the Commissioners are not at present in a position to say when it will be reached. The other estates referred to by the hon. Member are presumably cases in which the vendors elected to take payment either partly or wholly in stock.