278 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Etc., FOR IRELAND. 



portant," he said, " than the statistical work of the Department will be 

 that of its Intelligence Bureau. For we are suffering, not merely from 

 our lack of scientific methods, but also from the competition of State- 

 aided rivals the world over — men who have had the start of us indus- 

 trially, and who are alert to avail themselves of every assistance that 

 science and Government supervision can bring to their industry. We 

 have the experience of these men and these countries to draw on, and 

 we intend, through our Intelligence Bureau, to draw on it largely. By 

 leaflet, by bulletin, through its Journal and other publications the 

 Department will make a constant effort to bring home to every farmer 

 in the country the progress of his rivals, and to interpret for him how 

 the causes of such progress may be applied to his own conditions or 

 modified to meet varying circumstances." 



4. The powers and duties of the Commissioners of National Educa- 

 tion with regard to practical Agricultural Education. These Commis- 

 sioners have charge of the Irish primary schools, and at one time carried 

 on a fairly extensive system of agricultural instruction, both in the 

 primary schools and in some twenty provincial model farms. Of these 

 latter, two only have survived, the Albert Institution near Dublin, and 

 the Munster Institution near Cork, and in the primary schools object 

 lessons and elementary science (with special reference in rural districts 

 to the principles underlying agriculture and horticulture) have been 

 recently substituted for the teaching of agriculture itself. 



One of the various grants which go to make up the total income of 

 the Department, a sum of i^6,ooo represents the annual amount 

 hitherto spent on the Albert and Munster Institutions, which are to be 

 carried on and developed by the Department in connection with its 

 great work of developing Irish agriculture, and, as already noted, a 

 capital sum of ;£^ 10,000 is to be devoted towards the development and 

 extension of the Munster Institution. 



5. The powers and duties of the Department of Science and Art in 

 relation to the institutions in Ireland under their control. These are 

 the Royal College of Science, the Science and Art Museum, the 

 National Library, the Metropohtan School of Art, and the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin. Most of these institutions are offshoots 

 of the Royal Dublin Society, and an account of them will be found else- 

 where. 



6. The administration of the grants for Science and Art and for 

 Technical Instruction in Ireland, which were formerly administered by 

 the Science and Art Department of the English Board of Educa- 

 tion (South Kensington). Some information as to the state of 

 Science Teaching and Technical Instruction in Ireland is contained 

 in the article on this subject,* which gives the history of these grants in 

 Ireland, and points out that they have not been availed of as much as 

 •they might have been, largely because the conditions imposed upon 

 classes were not suitable to the needs of Ireland. The Department 



* See pages 155 — 176. 



