§ Mr. DEVLINasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to the action of the Lurgan Rural Council in procuring ejectment decrees against twenty-one tenants of labourers' cottages, although an offer was made in court by Mr. James Wood, the solicitor for the 159W tenants, to pay the rent of the cottages pending the decision of the Local Government Board on the question of the illegal letting of the cottages by the rural council before letting regulations had been made and sanctioned by the Local Government Board; whether some of these tenants had paid their rents and most of them had put down crops in their little holdings; and whether, pending the decision of the Local Government Board, instructions will be issued to the rural council to suspend further proceedings against these tenants and to permit those evicted, if any, to return to their cottages until the decision is known?
§ Mr. BIRRELLIt appears from the council's minutes of the 11th instant that, as the result of proceedings instituted by them against twenty-one tenants of labourers' cottages who refused to pay the increased rents recently fixed by the council, decrees for possession were granted on the 7th instant by the magistrates at petty sessions. It also appears from a newspaper report of the proceedings that an offer of the nature referred to was made by the solicitor acting on behalf of the tenants, but the council's solicitor contended that the magistrates had no option but to hear the cases, and this by a majority they decided to do. It was stated by the tenants' solicitor that all the holdings were under crops, but the increased rent does not appear to have been paid in any of the twenty-one cases. At the request of the Local Government Board a draft of the letting regulations proposed to be adopted by the council was sent to that Department on the 15th instant. The regulations show the rents proposed to be charged for the cottages and plots, and the reasonableness of these rents will be considered by the Board before confirming the regulations under Section 29 of the Labourers Act of 1906. Pending such consideration the Board have suggested to the council the suspension of further proceedings against the tenants.