asked the Minister for Lands and Agriculture if he will state what progress has been made by the Land Commission in the acquisition of the list of lands in the townlands of Pluckerstown, Kilmoney, Feighcullen, Keelogues, Cannonstown, Bonaghmore, Boston, Cloncumber, Tullylost, and Boherhill, in the Rathangan-Allen area, Co. Kildare, forwarded to the Department on April 1st 1925, with the names of twentyseven congest applicants attached, and if he will state when those lands will be divided; further, whether he is aware that one of those applicants, Mrs. Mary Walshe, Kilmoney, Rathangan, holding one and a quarter acres and paying rates since June 11th, 1878, is about to be evicted by her landlord, Mrs. Gishford, Kilmoney, who holds about four hundred acres and employs only a herd, and whether he can take any steps to stay proceedings in the case, and also to expedite acquisition of this ranch.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - DIVISION OF COUNTY KILDARE LANDS.
Mr. HOGAN
The Land Commission are unable to trace from the particulars in the question the receipt of the list of lands referred to. If further particulars as to the name of the person who sent the list, and the names of the respective owners, are furnished, the matter will be inquired into.
As regards the holding of Mrs. Gishford, this is a holding purchased under the Land Purchase Act of 1885, and the Commissioners have no information as regards the proceedings stated to be pending against Mrs. Walshe.
Will the Minister not interfere or take some steps to prevent the eviction of this woman, who is living there so long—since 1878?
Mr. HOGAN
This, I think, is the case of a small-holding owned by a woman named Mrs. Gishford; a holding, moreover, subject to a Land Commission annuity—a purchased holding. Apparently, she has made a letting of some portion of it, or the whole of it, and there is a dispute on the title between the two people. The Land Commission could not interfere in that dispute. It is not the function of the Land Commission to interfere between litigants as such, but to acquire land for distribution. It is certainly not its function to interfere between litigants where there are proceedings on a pure question of title.
Does the Minister not think that a four hundred acre farm is a rather large farm to allow this woman to hold? Does he not agree that she is using very arbitrary measures in the case I have referred to? This poor woman, who holds only one and a quarter acres, has been paying rates there since 1878. The Minister should acquire that holding.
Mr. HOGAN
The Land Commission do not acquire a farm because it happens to be of a certain area. They acquire land for the purpose of relieving congestion and for the other purposes set out under the Land Act, when the land is suitable. This land is subject to a Land Commission annuity, and there is a section in the Land Act which provides that land subject to a Land Commission annuity —purchased land—cannot be taken except the Land Commission are prepared to give the owner an equally suitable and not less valuable holding elsewhere. There are two big considerations in this case.
I think the Minister should not allow a return to the days of evictions and clearances.
Mr. HOGAN
Some evictions are quite justified; others are not.