74 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



Possibly the significance of the foregoing figures, applicable to 

 Ireland, may be best brought home by comparing them with the 

 relative figures for Scotland. This has also the advantage of 

 showing us, who are so much in need of money for research and 

 educational work, how little we really get. Of course, one must 

 keep in mind that the past history of Ireland, for which we are 

 largely responsible, created the present abnormal condition of 

 Ireland, and that condition is the justification for a considerable 

 portion of the State aid given to Ireland. If the amount of 

 financial assistance, therefore, which was required to stimulate 

 self-help, appears to be large, there is something to be said for 

 the expenditure. But Scotland does not even fare well, when 

 we come to compare the treatment of the so-called congested 

 districts in both countries where the condition of things is not 

 dissimilar. The people in these districts belong to the same 

 nation. They are Celts, and equally poor. Their land is the 

 same land in both countries — equally bad. To make ends meet, 

 the Highland crofter, like the Irish farmer, is a fisherman on the 

 seaboard and a weaver inland, and anything else that pays. The 

 problem which the Congested Districts Board is tackling is the 

 same problem in both countries. Keeping these things in view, 

 the figures for 1904-5, which we now submit, are instructive: — 



Ireland. Scotland. 



Salaries and wages of the Board 



of Agriculture . £40,888 10 £7,074 



Travelling expenses . . 6,883 14 11 1,798 



Special services and incidental 



expenses . . . 967 18 7 583 



Collection of Agricultural Stat- 

 istics .... 2,794 17 3 903 



Grant in aid under Diseases of 



Animals Act . . . 16,200 3,972 



Building and equipment of 

 Agricultural Institutions and 

 Stations . . .46,797 ^ 9,670 



Agricultural Instruction . . 33,818 12 10 14,768 3 5 



Horse-breeding and other live- 

 stock schemes . . .26,074 17 8 



Grants to Agricultural Societies . 2,750 



Grants for local Horse and Cattle 



Shows .... 3,826 11 ... 



Miscellaneous . . . 25.461 12 2 



Amount spent by the Congested 



Districts Board . 229,065 135,512 10 9 



Fixed income of the Board .86,250 35,000 



' This represents the whole Government Grant to oiu- Agricultural Colleges, not for 

 •one year, but for all the years since the Colleges were established. 



