DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Etc., FOR IRELAND. 276 



It was not at all desired by the members of the Recess Committee, nor 

 was it intended by the Government, that the Department should ever 

 become a body existing merely for the purpose of administering State sub- 

 sidies : its function was rather in the words of the Vice-President to be that 

 of " helping people to help themselves." Hence the Act expressly pro- 

 hibited the Department from applying (except in special cases) any of its 

 funds to schemes in respect of which aid is not given out of money provided 

 by local authorities or from other local sources. Accordingly, the Act em- 

 powers local authorities to levy a rate of one penny in the pound for the 

 purposes of the Act, and it also provides that, notwithstanding anything in 

 the Technical Instruction Acts, 1889 and 1891, the rate raised for the pur- 

 poses of those Acts in a rural District may, if the County Council think fit, 

 be applied for any of the purposes of this Act. 



The result is that the Councils of every urban district and of every county 

 may levy a rate of twopence in the pound (consisting of one penny levied 

 under the Technical Instruction Acts, 1889 and 1891, and one penny levied 

 under the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1889), and 

 the sum thus raised may be applied in urban districts for Technical Instruc- 

 tion, and in rural districts for Technical Instruction and for the purposes of 

 agriculture and other rural industries. Extensive borrowing powers for the 

 same purposes are also conferred by the Act upon the local Councils. An 

 universal rate of one penny in the pound all over Ireland would produce a 

 sum of nearly ;j^6o,ooo, and as the Department's contribution to any par- 

 ticulcir scheme will in general be proportioned to the amount of local aid 

 forthcoming, the local Councils throughout Ireland have the power of setting 

 free a very considerable amount of money to assist in the work of national 

 development. 



The powers of the Councils are not confined to deciding whether any 

 district will tax itself, and so become eligible to share in the benefits that 

 may result from the action of the Department. These Councils will be the 

 real executive. To the Councils, or, rather, to committees appointed by 

 the Council to represent the various interests in any district, is entrusted the 

 task of preparing, in conjunction with the Department, schemes for the 

 furtherance of the objects of the Act, cind to these same bodies will be 

 entrusted the administration of the schemes. It is thus evident that the 

 successful working of the Act, and, indeed, its working at all, depends 

 mainly upon the co-operation of local bodies. 



The transferred powers and duties of the Department, to which reference 

 has already been made, may be considered in five classes :— 



I. The powers and duties of the Veterinary Department of the Privy 

 Council. These powers arise chiefly out of various Diseases of Animals 

 Acts the object of which was to stamp out certain infectious disease 

 amongst animals. These powers are very extensive, and include 

 the right of prohibiting the importation into this country of animals 

 from foreign countries ; of declaring that any area in Ireland is affected 

 with a particular disease, and of regulating the movement of animals in 

 such area ; and of slaughtering every animal affected, or suspected to 

 be affected, with certain diseases ; in such cases compensation is made 

 to the owner, partly out of money provided by Parliament, but partly 

 out of a fund raised by local assessments. These measures have 



