Canon Keller, I see, describes you, Mr.Ponsonby, as "a retired navy officer, and an absentee Irish landlord." He says your estate is now "universally known as the famous Ponsonby Estate," and that it is occupied "by from 300 to 400 tenants, holding farms varying in extent from an acre and a half to over two hundred acres." Are these statements correct?
_A_.

I am a retired navy officer certainly, and perhaps I may be called an "absentee Irish landlord." I lived on my property for some time, and I have always attended to it.

I succeeded to the estate in 1868, and almost my first act was to borrow L2000 of the Board of Works for drainage purposes--the tenants agreeing to pay half the interest.

As a matter of fact some never paid at all, and I afterwards wiped out the claims against them.

There are about 300 tenants on the property, and the average holdings are of about 36 acres, at an average rental of L30 a holding.