§ Mr. WILLIAM O'BRIENasked the Chief Secretary how many evicted tenants have been reinstated or provided with equivalent holdings in each month since the close of last Session; in how many cases and in what quantity land was acquired for the purpose by compulsory purchase; what steps are being taken to expedite settlements before the existing Act expires; and whether, seeing the desirability of removing from the path of an Irish Parliament the disquiet and ill-will caused by the number of meritorious cases still unsettled, he will make it one of the articles of the Home Rule settlement that all evicted tenants whose claims have been rejected without cause stated by the Estates Commissioners shall have a right to claim a rehearing by a county court judge?
§ Mr. BIRRELLSince the 1st of January last 246 evicted tenants have been reinstated or provided with new holdings which brings the total number of evicted tenants so provided for up to 2,977. Since that date 2,470 acres of untenanted land acquired compulsorily under the Evicted Tenants Act have been allotted to seventy evicted tenants. Proceedings are at present pending under the Evicted Tenants Act for the acquisition of 6,862 acres of untenanted land, while in addition there is a large area of untenanted land the subject of proceedings for sale to the Estates Commissioners under the Irish Land Acts, 1903 and 1909. The Commissioners have also acquired, or are about to acquire, an additional 9,000 acres, and schemes for distribution are in course of preparation. The Commissioners will provide for as many 1175W as possible of the evicted tenants whose applications have been provisionally noted for allotment. The answer to the last paragraph of the question is in the negative.