§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary if he can say whether the Estates Commissioners are aware that an evicted tenant named David Cotter, of Garryfine, Bruree, county Limerick, who was reinstated, and who signed an agreement to purchase, has been asked by the landlord, Captain Harkness, through his agent, to 1330W pay rent up to last April, which he says he is not bound to pay, pending the completion of the sale; can he say what is the position of this tenant as regards the payment of rent or interest on the purchase-money until the sale is completed; and will the Commissioners inquire into the purchase price, £800, on the rent, £27 10s., not including the bonus which their inspector put on the land, as to whether it is the value of the farm?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have no information as to the terms upon which the owner reinstated David Cotter. He has signed an agreement to purchase his former holding under the Irish Land Act, 1903, in Form H in the Appendix to the Commissioners' Rules, which have been presented to Parliament. Agreements in that form do not provide for the collection of interest in lieu of rent by the Land Commission, and the tenant would appear to be liable for such rent as may have been agreed on between the parties until such time as the holding is vested in the purchaser. The Commissioners are not in a position to make any statement in reference to the concluding paragraph of the question, as the papers in connection with the estate are at present in the hands of one of their inspectors.