HC Deb 22 February 1912 vol 34 cc873-4W
Mr. KEATING

asked the Chief Secretary if Mr. Carroll is the legal tenant of Maxtown Farm, Callan, county Kilkenny; if so, whether he can state the date he was declared tenant; and whether the Estates Commissioners have power to purchase the said farm and divide it into small holdings, giving the descendants of the former evicted tenants priority of claim in any such division?

Mr. BIRRELL

The Estate Commissioners are unable from the particulars given to identify the case referred to by the hon. Member. They have no power to acquire land except in fee simple.

Captain GILMOUR

asked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been called to a speech delivered by the hon. Member for South Mayo, who is a member of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland, at a meeting of the United Irish League, at Ballindine, county Mayo, in which he advised that illegal pressure should be brought to bear upon local landlords in order to force them to offer their estates to the Congested Districts Board at an under value; whether he is aware that after this speech all the graziers in the neighbourhood were visited by gangs of men, members of the United Irish League, and were compelled to surrender the grazing farms which they had, in many cases, held for a number of years, and that threats have been made that if the lands are stocked by the owners their cattle will be driven; and whether, considering that the hon. Member for South Mayo has already been warned on one occasion that certain speeches made by him should not have been made by a member of the Congested Districts Board, it is his intention to remove the hon. Member from the Board, or, if not, what action does he propose to take in the matter?

Mr. BIRRELL

I have written to the hon. Member for South Mayo on the subject of his speech at Ballindine, and he has undertaken either to refrain from such speeches in future or to resign his seat on the Congested Districts Board. I am informed by the police, who were present, that the deputation from the Ballindine branch of the United Irish League, which visited the graziers, did not use any intimidation, and that no open threats of cattle driving have been made.