AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN IRELAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2823, 22 April 1908, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN IRELAND.

New Zealand and Ireland are alike m the respect that agriculture is the great industry of both oountries. There is also much similarity m the conditions of soil and climates-" m many parts of the two countries 'and each has to depend largely upon its exports for its prosperity. Thus it will be of interest to note what steps are being taken by the British Government to aid m the development of the agricultural resources of Ireland. This dutydevolves upon the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction- for Ireland, which has achieved vast results m restoring agriculture to something approaching its former position m the country. In the efforts to obtain these results the greatest use has been made of instruction m agriculture m. 00-operation with the country authorities. This scheme was initiated m a small way, and, proving successful, has extended until last year it was m operation m every county, under the charge of the itinerant instructor. There were also this year whiter classes at 32 centres m 13 counties, with a total attendance of about 500 pupils. The schemes of the department m regard to the improvement of live stock hay* also been adopted by every county. The Agricultural .colleges and schools bear an importaint part m the scheme of instruction, being now able to supply tlie country with competent Irishmen and Irishwomen as instructors — which m the earlier days of the department w'-as impossible, thf

instruction then being mainly imparted by Scotsmen and Englishmen. The Royal College of Science at Dublin ; the Albert Agricultural College, Glasnevin ; the Munster and the Ulster Dairy Schools ; and three Agricultural Stations, yet m the experimental stage, besides eight girls' agricultural schools, are all well filled with students and pupils of agriculture. Other enterprises include the poultry and eggs scheme, under which the export of Irish eggs has risen by leaps and bounds, until m 1906 tbe gross value of £2,500,000 was reached, and it Ls still increasing.' Much the same has been realised with poultry : the breed of fowl has immensely improved, and better prices are obtained, though improved methods of marketing are required, and would be of great assistance to the industry. There are the horticulture and bee-keeping "schemes, the butter-making scheme, tho cottage and farm prize 1 scheme, and the flax scheme, all but the last being m operation m most or all of the counties. It ia particularly interesting to note that tha department is itself carrying out experiments to decide the question, which is of moment to New Zealand a.s well as to Ireland, whether -winter (dairying — or, rather, all-the-year-round. dairying-— will pay. In these experiments the assistance of a number of persons interested m the question has beeu enlisted. The department has greatly assisted m the estab-. Ushment of the Irish -Veterinary College, and gives a yearly grant of £200 for research m connection with the diseases of live stock. It has also aided an experiment which is being tried m County Wexford, of setting up veterinary dispensaries at different centres'- m the county, at which veterinary surgeons will attend on certain days eaoh week, for the tieatment of diseased animals, farms being visited by the veterinarians with the object of treating cases which cannot be dealt with at the dispensaries. The fees have been fixed on a scale based on the valuation of the. stock-owners' holdings. (Some Continental organisations combine live stock insurance with veterinary assistance, the premiums being based on th© value of the stock brought under the scheme.) With the view of promoting the sale of Irish produce m Great Britain the Department has organised several exhibitions of Irish goods m the large cities and towns, which have been so successful that the scheme is to be greatly extended. The Department also has a task m waging war against the sale of foreign goods under Irish names, being determined to secure) for Irish produce something like fair phiy, which it has not had m the past; With this crusade New Zealand producers will have genuine symr pathv. The present vice-president of the department, Mr T. W. Russell, M.P. (he is not likely to have been displaced m the recent official rearrangements), urges strongly that the settlement of the people on the agricultural holdings created under the new Land Act should be assisted by the establishment of credit associations, by agricultural instruction, and by other means, which his Department alone can supply. He also declares that if Ireland is to prosper as a nation scientific agriculture must be adopted. Further, small industries must ibe established all over the country to take the strain off the main industry — the land. He does not believe that m the present condition of the world tlie people of Ireland can live by the land alone. The scope of the Department- is, however, limited to industries of a rural character. It will surprise maiiy people to hear that Mr Russell condemns strongly the present constitution of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, an institution which has been generally regarded as something like a model to be copied by other countries settled by small farmers, and which has unquestionably been of great benefit to the smaller producers of Ireland. The cause of offence is the entering of the society into general trade, thus coming into competition with the ordinary shopkeepers of the country. Most New Zealand farmers' co-operative societies have this -for their chief object; tout the Irish society receives State assistance, and on this ground the objection is well founded. The suggested solution of the difficulty is that the subsidy to the society should be gradually diminished, and ultimately cease. This outline of the work of the Irish Department will show what an important influence it exercises m the agricultural development of the conntry, and may raise a thought whether similar assistance to New Zealand settlers would not be abundantly repaid by the increased prosperity of this country.