ON AGRICULTURE TO IRELAND 65 



Recommendations of the Recess Committee 



These, then, were the findings of the Commissioners : self-help 

 first, then a democratic Department of Agriculture administering 

 State aid for the most part in the form of education. The Eecess 

 Committee, after carefully considering them, and no doubt remem- 

 bering that Irishmen had been helping themselves for some years, 

 recommended that a Department of Agriculture and Industries 

 similar to those on the Continent should be established. This 

 recommendation, which had the support of the country in a 

 very marked degree, was forwarded to the Government on 1st 

 August 1896, and practically adopted by them.^ The Agricultural 

 and Technical Instruction Act, which created the Department of 

 Agriculture, was passed in 1899. We proceed briefly to explain 

 the constitution of the Department and outline its work. 



Constitution of the Department 



The Department, which is called the Department of Agri- 

 culture and other Industries and Technical Instruction, consists 

 of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, two Assistant-Secretaries, 

 one in respect of agriculture and one in respect of technical in- 

 struction, and the usual staff The President is the Chief Secre- 

 tary. It was intended, though not enacted, that the Vice-President 

 should be a member of the Government of the day. Sir Horace 

 Plunkett was appointed the first Vice-President, and held that 

 position until recently, although he had ceased to be a Member of 

 Parliament. Now that he has retired, so that the spirit if not the 

 letter of the law might be fulfilled, we believe it would be well for 

 Ireland if he were appointed to a permanent position at the head 

 of the Department, with the same powers of control and direction 

 that he exercised as Vice-President, for the work of the Depart- 

 ment is yet in its initial or experimental stages, and it does not 

 seem wise that the man responsible for the creation of the Depart- 

 ment should just now cease to control its affairs. 



Consolidation of Boards 



The Act had two objects in view. In the first place, it con- 

 solidated different Boards. The Veterinary Department of the 

 Privy Council and the Office of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries 

 were merged into the new Department. Hitherto, the Irish Land 

 Commission and the Eegistrar-General collected and published 

 agricultural statistics. This work was handed over to the new 

 Department. There was also handed over the administration of 

 the Science and Art Grants, and the Grants in aid of Technical 

 Instruction. Besides, the Department got control of the following, 

 among other educational institutions : the Munster Institute, Cork ; 

 the Albert Institute, Glasnevin ; and the Eoyal College of Science, 

 Dublin. 



1 The Report of the Recess Committee, which had been for some time out of print, 

 has recently been re-issued in a new edition. It is published by T. Fisher Unwin, of 

 London ; Browne & Nolan, Dublin ; W. Mullan & Son, Belfast. 

 E 



