LAND PURCHASE – THE LEINSTER ESTATE – MEETING AT MAYNOOTH (1903)
LAND PURCHASE
MEETING OF TENANTS
THE LEINSTER NEGOTIATIONS
THE ESTATE SOLD TO THE TENANTS
PROPOSALS ON OTHER ESTATES
MEETING AT MAYNOOTH
The Leinster Leader, Saturday September 25, 1903.
On Monday a meeting of the tenants of “Maynooth Manor” the part of the estate of the Duke of Leinster situated around the town of Maynooth, assembled at the Town Hall, Maynooth, for the purpose of taking into consideration the offer of the Trustees of the present Duke, who is a minor, to sell the estate to the tenantry under the new Land Act for 25 years purchase. It will be remembered that a meeting of the tenantry in the Athy district, which is the larger portion of the estate, was held last week to consider the proposal of the Trustees, and that they decided to offer to buy at 24 years’ purchase. A committee appointed by the Athy meeting had a conference with the agent of the estate, Mr Hamilton, on Thursday last, when the Trustees through Mr Hamilton, intimated that they were not prepared to sell at less than 25 years’ purchase. It was then arranged that a meeting of the Maynooth tenants (called for Monday) should be held, and that a general meeting of the tenants of the entire estate, at which the Maynooth men should be represented, would take place at Athy on Tuesday.
There are something like about seventy tenants of the “Maynooth Manor” estate, the net rental of which is stated to be well over £9,000 a year, and there was about fifty of the tenants in attendance or represented at Monday’s meeting. Among those present were:- The Rev. Mr. Creed, Mr. Laurence Ball, J.P.; Mr Shaw, Mr R McKenna, J.P. C.C., Mr Mark Travers, Mr Philip Brady, Messrs McGrath (two), Mr Patterson, Mr Langan, Captain Murray, Mr T. Byrne, Mr Jas. O’Grady, solicitor; Mr Robert Mooney, Mr Joseph Mooney, Mr Denis Dunne, Mr Daniel Dunne, etc. Mr Stephen J. Brown, J.P. Naas, chairman Kildare County Council attended the meeting as solicitor for some of the Maynooth tenants.
When the meeting assembled shortly after two o’clock, a motion was made that Mr. Laurence Ball do take the chair. Mr. Ball, however, demurred, and at his suggestion the chair was taken by Mr. Shaw. The Chairman then said that the first question to consider was whether the Press should be represented at their meeting – Mr. Ball said the Trustees were consulting in private, and he suggested that the tenants should also consult in private. This view was adopted by the meeting – and the Press representative pre-sat withdrew. He was subsequently informed by Mr. J. Ball and Mr. Shaw that the meeting, which lasted an hour and a half, had decided to appoint a deputation to attend the Athy meeting on Tuesday, the deputation to consist of Messrs Shaw, Ball, Langan, Travers, McGrath, Patterson and McKenna, with Mr Stephen J. Brown solicitor….
This newspaper report was one of several in the local newspapers throughout the second half of 1903 that provided accounts of negotiations around the break-up of the large land estates in County Kildare as a consequence of the Wyndham Land Act. Similar accounts of meetings of the tenants of the Trench Estate and Aylmer Estate were included in this edition.
