§ Mr. PATRICK WHITEalso asked whether the Estates Commissioners have acquired the lands of Footstown Great, near Lobinstown, Slane, county Meath; and, if so, whether it is intended to divide the lands between deserving local applicants who are occupiers of uneconomic holdings?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe reply to the first paragraph of the question is in the affirmative. When the Estates Commissioners are preparing a scheme for the division of the lands they will have due regard to the wants and circumstances of the small holders in the locality.
§ Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLasked the Chief Secretary how far the negotiations with reference to the sale to the Congested Districts Board of the Boyton, Burton, and Colquhoun estates, in the parish of Inver, county Donegal, have proceeded; and what steps, if any, have been taken to bring these proceedings to a speedy termination, having regard to the injury and disappointment to which the tenants of these estates have been subjected by the prolonged delay of a definite settlement?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Congested Districts Board have been in communication with Mrs. C. M. Boyton, but the maps and documents necessary for a preliminary inspection of the estate to be made with a view to a sale have not so far been lodged with the Board. The Board have made an offer for the purchase of the estate of Colonel B. J. Barton, and they are still in correspondence with the owner's solicitors regarding it. The maps and documents necessary for a preliminary inspection of the Colquhoun estate were lodged with the Board in November last, and a decision will be arrived at regarding purchase as soon as practicable. No avoidable delay has taken place in the negotiations which have been proceeding for the purchase of these properties.
§ Mr. SHEEHYasked the Chief Secretary whether the Estates Commissioners propose giving to Robert Sanders, J.P., of Charleville, county Cork, portion of a property which they have acquired at Dunboyne, county Meath, in consideration of 1522W his surrendering an evicted farm to enable them to restore the evicted tenant to his holding; whether the Commissioners are aware that Sanders holds a number of other evicted farms for which he may claim more of the untenanted lands of Meath; whether he is aware that Sanders is a landlord, and that it was not the intention of Parliament by the Purchase Act to enable Irish landlords to enlarge their land properties; whether the rumoured intention of the Commissioners in this instance is irrevocable; and, if not, whether they can secure other land which is not so needed for local demands as are the lands at Dunboyne by the people in their immediate vicinity?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Estates Commissioners have allotted to Mr. Sanders a holding in county Meath, in lieu of a holding surrendered by him in county Limerick, at the request of the Commissioners, to facilitate the reinstatement of an evicted tenant. The Commissioners are aware that Mr. Sanders holds other lands, but they cannot say whether these include evicted lands. When the Commissioners consider it desirable to reinstate an evicted tenant in his former holding, it is in a number of cases practically impossible to induce the holder to surrender the holding without allotting him other lands in exchange, and if any obstacles are placed in the way of this being done, the difficulty of reinstating evicted tenants will be greatly increased. Mr. Sanders has signed a purchase agreement for the farm in question and has been given possession, and the matter cannot be reopened.