State Aid to Agriculture in Ireland. 45 



to be taken to put it info operation ; to ol)tain iind (.'(iiisitler 

 suggestions as to what the Department should do for agricul- 

 tural development, and to l)ecome acqiiainted with those whom 

 the Act was intended to benefit. Advantage was taken of 

 these visits to study the peculiarities of Irish agriculture in 

 respect of the size of the holdings, the farm buildings, the 

 tillage of the land, the crops grown, the class of stock raised, 

 and the condition of dairying, horticulture, and poultry- 

 keeping. Regard was had also to the social position of the 

 farmer himself, his l)U8ineas methods, capital, general and 

 technical education, and to some extent his aspirations. 



The conclusions arrived at after this preliminary study 

 were : — 



(1) That the most important work which the Department 

 had to perform was that of laying the foundation of a per- 

 manent system of agricultural education. The immediate 

 introduction of a system of agricultural education such as 

 exists in other countries was seen to be impractical )le, as in the 

 first instance the conditions of agriculture in Ireland and the 

 circumstances of the farmers differed from those of most 

 other countries, particularly with respect to the size of the 

 farms : moreover no provision had been made in Ireland for 

 the training of suitable teachers. 



(2) That in the application of the Department's endowment 

 to aid in the development of agriculture it was desirable ag far 

 as practicable to work through the local authorities. 



(3) That a lai-ge number of the projects on which the 

 country desired the Department to embark would at first have 

 to be undertaken by the Department's officers themselves, and 

 afterwards gradually be transferred to the local authorities. 



A few words may be said here respecting the division of 

 work. The county is the unit of administration for joint 

 work, such as live stock improvement and schemes of itinerant 

 instruction in agriculture, while things of immediate national 

 concern, such as the investigation of outbreaks of diseases in 

 stock, are administered directly from the Department, together 

 with all such matters as cannot well be administered locally. 



The local authorities are the County Councils, of which 

 there are thirty-three, each council, however, appointing a 

 committee of agriculture, composed partly of members of the 

 council and partly of other persons. To this committee the 

 council usually delegates full powers, subject to the approval 

 of the Department, for the administration of the funds placed 

 at its disposal. The County Council alone can raise a rate for 

 the purposes of the Act, the maximum rate being a penny in 

 the pound. The amount raised by the county rate is usually 

 transferred by the County Council to the County Committee to 



