§ MR. DUFFYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Board of Agriculture in Ireland is responsible for the purchasing of foreign machinery for use on the agricultural farm near Athenry; and whether, seeing that similar pieces of machinery can be purchased from people who manufacture the same class of material at home, he will take steps, price and quality being equal, to see that encouragement is given to home-manufactured goods.
MR. BRYCEThe instructions issued by the Department of Agriculture to the superintendent of their agricultural station at Athenry are to obtain quotations for machinery of Irish manufacture, and, price and quality being equal, to purchase the same in preference to goods manufactured elsewhere. As, however, the station serves as an educational establishment, the superintendent is at the same time instructed to avoid a sameness in the type of implements used, and to procure specimens of new types of machinery or implements designed for special purposes. Several of the implements used on the Athenry farm were bought by the Department with the estate.