I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether negotiations for sale to the tenants of the estate of Mr. Hopkins, Blackhall, county Kildare, situated near Errill, Ballybrophy, Queen's County, are pending before the Estates Commissioners; whether he is aware that Mr. Joseph Mole, who held the farms of Park and Lyrogue upon the eleven months system up to 1904, has for the purpose of sale to him been made a yearly tenant of those farms; and whether, in view of the fact that this land is required for the enlargement of small holdings and the settlement of evicted tenants in the locality, the Estates Commissioners propose to sanction the sale to Mr. Mole.
Purchase agreements in respect of the estate mentioned were lodged with the Estate Commissioners in July, 1905. The agreements include one by Joseph Mole for the purchase of a farm held by him as yearly tenant under a tenancy created in April, 1905. The question of making an advance to Mole will be duly considered by the Commissioners when they come to deal with the estate.