§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the Chief Secretary whether he can explain the circumstances under which a labourer named O'Brien, of Knockundervaul, Duagh, rural district of Listowel, was refused the additional half-acre; was the application of this man twice inquired into; is he aware that at the inquiry in July, 1907, Mr. M'Cabe, Local Government Board inspector, expressed himself in favour of it; and that there is a sufficiency of land held by the occupier, Thomas Casey, out of which an additional allotment might be granted?
§ Mr. BIRRELL:I understand that O'Brien's application has been twice inquired into, but there is nothing in the transcript of the shorthand writer's notes of the second inquiry to show that the Board's inspector approved of the renewed application, and he disallowed it on the ground that the applicant was not a labourer. The area of the farm on which the additional half-acre was marked appears to be forty-one acres, but the occupier based his objection upon the fact that consent was given to the original half-acre for a cottage and plot for O'Brien (although he was not an agricultural 912W labourer), on the understanding that no more land would be applied for by him. The applicant never worked as an agricultural labourer, but is a tailor.