288 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Etc., FOR IRELAND. 



Report. These means, it will be seen, fall, roughly speaking-, into two broad 

 divisions — direct measures tor improving agricultural and industrial conditions ; 

 and indirect measures, which may be generally summed up in the word, 

 Education. To these may be added a third most powerful agency, the value 

 of which, for the advancement of agriculture, its own experience has demon- 

 strated to the Department, viz., Organisation. Nearly all of these means, it is 

 important to observe, must be slow in their results. Even the direct means 

 involve, for the most part, bringing various applications of science and, in 

 the case of industries, of art as well, to the aid of our agriculture and indus- 

 tries, and that cannot, from the nature of the case, be a simple or rapid 

 process. It will be therefore necessary for the Department, for some years to 

 come, to depend a good deal upon the patience and the faith of the Irish public 

 as regards the work which they will together be endeavouring to do. 



Amongst the direct means are such schemes as those for encouraging 

 improvement in the breeds of live stock, for itinerant instruction of the farmers 

 themselves with direct reference to the cultivation of their own holdings, for 

 the development, through itinerant instruction and otherwise, of rural and other 

 industries, and all the efforts which can be made for improving the transit of 

 agricultural and industrial produce and the conditions under which such 

 produce is placed on the markets. Though some subjects, coming within the 

 functions of the Department, such as transit and forestry, would require 

 special legislation for their treatment on comprehensive lines, the Department 

 is able to do much that is useful in connection with them with its present 

 powers. Steps have been taken, and others are in contemplation, for improving' 

 the position of the sea and inland fisheries in such directions as opening new 

 markets, the extension of loans for the purchase of boats and gear, the 

 technical instruction of fishermen, the erection of hatcheries for the artificial 

 propagation of salmon and trout, experiments in oyster culture, the protection 

 of the fishing grounds from illegal trawling and poaching. No action of any 

 consequence has, as yet, been taken with regard to tree-planting, but schemes 

 for work with the County Councils in this particular are being matured. There 

 is an important class of industries, which it is hoped may be promoted in 

 Ireland, that require co-operation between rural and urban communities. To 

 the coming together of town and country in such enterprises for their common 

 benefit the Department will attach importance, in view of the peculiar circum- 

 stances of Ireland, and the difficulty which the task of establishing a system of 

 technical instruction meets here, through the lack of industries in provincial 

 towns. 



The important part which the organisation of a Government Department 

 can play in bringing the manufactures and resources of a country under the 

 notice of capital by means of exhibitions, and in spreading, by the same means, 

 information useful to trade and industry at home, is recognised by the Depart- 

 ment. They accordingly, with the concurrence of the Agricultural Board, 

 resolved to take the opportunity afforded by the Glasgow International 

 Exhibition, and to erect there an Irish Pavilion, in which would be shewn a 

 representative exhibit, principally of the smaller, or cottage, industries which 

 have been developed in Ireland of recent years, and of mineral and other 

 resources. The Congested Districts Board co-operated with the Department 

 in this project ; and the railway and shipping companies, who found it a 

 valuable opportunity for bringing Irish scenery and travelling facilities to the 

 attention of tourists, aided in the work. The Irish Pavilion was, necessarily, 

 in all the circumstances, conceived on a modest scale, but the authorities of 

 Glasgow have declared it one of the most attractive and successful features of 

 the Exhibition, and it has already brought about a marked increase in the 

 demand for the classes of products exhibited. 



