316 A HISTORY OF 



premium bulls were more evenly distributed. To aid 

 in administering the horse-breeding scheme, committees 

 were formed in Strabane, Antrim, Portadown, Lisnaskea, 

 Ballymote, Ballinrobe, Longford, Kells, Edenderry, 

 Banagher, Loughrea, Templemore, Tullow, Rathkeale, 

 Cappoquin and Dunmanway. Subsequently the horse- 

 breeding scheme was changed, and, instead of giving 

 premiums to stallions, a register of stallions was estab- 

 lished, and the sum of ^3200 was allotted to the 

 counties, in sums varying from ^80 to ^140 each, to 

 be distributed amongst the owners of approved mares 

 in the form of nominations to thoroughbred stallions 

 on the Society's register. To carry out this scheme a 

 committee was appointed in each county. With slight 

 variation, this system continued in force until the 

 establishment, in 1899, of the department of Agricul- 

 ture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. The new 

 department was entrusted with the administration of 

 all public funds devoted to the advancement of agri- 

 culture in Ireland, with the sole exception of the Royal 

 Dublin Society's grant of 5000 a year. One of the 

 first acts of the department was to adopt schemes for 

 improving horse and cattle breeding practically identical 

 with those which the Society had been carrying out for 

 the preceding thirteen years. Early in the year 1902, 

 a committee, which the Council had appointed to con- 

 sider the new position that had arisen, recommended 

 that the Society should be relieved of the administra- 

 tion of the fund on the grounds that : ( i ) It involved 

 a great deal of work the cost of which was borne by 

 the Society's private funds; (2) that friction with the 

 department was inevitable so long as both bodies con- 

 tinued to work on nearly identical lines; (3) and 

 finally, that the Society was not independent so long as 

 it continued to administer public funds. This latter 



