§ Mr. O'DONNELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether any steps can be 1864W taken to assist the tenant purchasers at Castlemaine,. county Kerry, whose lands and crops were injured by the floods of last November and December; whether, as the bank was then broken, the tide is regularly flowing into their land and ruining it; whether nearly 100 acres of good arable land is thus destroyed, all of which could be made available for tillage by the expenditure of a few hundred pounds; and whether, in those circumstances, an inspector will be sent to inquire into and report on the matter?
§ Mr. DUKEI assume the question to refer to the tenant purchasers on the Mont-eagle estate, who purchased their holdings in fee simple under the provisions the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1885. They, as owners, are responsible for the user and preservation of their property, and the Estates Commissioners have no-power to grant financial assistance. The Commissioners understand that the river banks stood during the recent floods, and that the owners are doing all they can to maintain them.