§ Mr. DELANYasked the Chief Secretary whether the attention of the Estates Commissioners has been called to the case of four tenant purchasers on the Kirk estate, Castletown, Mountrath, Queen's County, who occupied cottages with a half Irish acre of land attached as weekly tenants at the time of the sale, and were raised to the status of yearly tenants by 246W the landlord and allowed to purchase with the other tenants; and, as two of these tenants are now called upon to pay an annuity of £1 16s. 6d. while the other two pay annuities of only 19s. 6d., and seeing that the cottages and plots are identical in every way and of the same valuation for rateable purposes, will he explain the difference between the annuities?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe estate referred to was the subject of proceedings for sale by the owner direct to the tenants under the Irish Land Act, 1903, and purchase agreements at prices agreed upon between the parties were lodged with the Estates Commissioners. The four holdings in question were held subject to judicial rents fixed by agreement in 1884 and 1890 and each tenant agreed to purchase his holding for £56. The prices of the four holdings were all within the zonal provisions of Section 1 (1) of the Irish Land Act, 1903. In two of the cases the Commissioners with the consent of the owner reduced the advances to £30.