EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 131 



sioners heard evidence in support of the Irish Agricultural 

 Organisation Society's application, and subsequently, the 

 report adds, " they have recommended a grant of £2,000 to 

 the Society, with prospective further grants, on conditions 

 designed to secure that the Society's work is confined to 

 purely agricultural co-operation, and that it is carried on 

 without the possibility of any suspicion of political partisan- 

 ship." 



In explaining the " Finance of the Development Fund " 

 the Commissioners say concerning agricultural co-op- 

 eration : — 



This expenditure under this head takes the form of grants to 

 the three existing agricultural societies. £50,000 might be 

 sufficient, but it is possible that this sum may be exceeded as 

 co-operation is a subject to which the Commissioners attach 

 great importance. 



Finally, in their " Conclusion " the Commissioners say : — 



The scheme for agricultural instruction and research, when in 

 full operation, should at least go some way towards organising 

 into a coherent system the more scientific side of agriculture in 

 this country, as the schemes for promoting co-operation should 

 help in organising its more commercial side. 



E.— DEVOLUTION. 



Reference has already been made, on page 126, to the 

 fact that when the Society approached the Development 

 Commissioners, in 1910, with. a view to obtaining a sub- 

 stantial grant from the Development Fund, it had on hand 

 " a scheme of Branch Devolution which would involve a 

 complete reorganisation of its work." 



Devolution was then by no means a new idea. There had 

 been an initial development of this principle in 1904, or 

 within three years of the Society being originally constituted. 

 That particular development took place in regard to the 

 work in Scotland. 



Agricultural Organisation in Scotland. 



Under the original plan of campaign, the A. O. S. was to 

 take up the work of agricultural organisation throughout 



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