§ Mr. JOHN MURPHYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the Estates Commissioners are taking any steps in the public interest to prevent the wholesale cutting down of trees by landlords whose estates are being sold in the county of Kerry?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners do not at present possess the powers necessary to enable them to deal effectively with the cutting down of trees, whether by landlords or tenants, on estates which are being sold under the Land Purchase Acts, but provisions for that purpose have been inserted in the Land Bill. As my right hon. Friend the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture explained in reply to a question asked by the hon. Member for East Clare on the 5th instant, that Department has recently been placed in a position to purchase from the Commissioners certain woods which would otherwise have been cut down.