asked the Minister for Lands and Agriculture if he is aware that the R.A. Knox estate, in the Parish of Aghamore, County Mayo, was purchased by the Irish Land Commission over twenty-one years ago; that the lands are not yet vested, and that the tenants are still paying interest in lieu of rent instead of annuities; if he will state when the lands will be vested, and if a refund will be made to the tenants of the moneys paid in excess of annuities during the past twenty-one years, and what steps, if any, are being taken to provide economic holdings for the tenants whose valuations are from £1 10s. to £6 on that estate.
WRITTEN ANSWER. - VESTING OF CO. MAYO LANDS.
Mr. HOGAN
The estate was purchased by the (late) Congested Districts Board in 1908. There are some fifty unsold tenants on the Aghamore section with holdings mostly intermixed and all, except six, under £6 Poor Law Valuation. Up to the present neither the Board nor the Land Commission have been able to provide enlargements for them, but every effort will be made to do so when the opportunity offers. All these tenants are now getting reduction of 25 per cent. off their rents and were allowed the usual abatements by the late Board. The Land Commission are not prepared to make any refunds.