§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to his statement that some £19,000 had been paid to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland whether it was necessary for the Department to have the approval of the Board of 903 Agriculture before these payments were authorised; if so, on what dates was authorisation given for any sum in excess of £2,000; and whether he can refer to any Minutes, Annual Accounts, or Reports of the Board in which the fact of these payments having been made was clearly set out.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) At the second meeting of the Agricultural Board, held on July 11th, 1900, the Board had under consideration an arrangement in regard to the technical instruction then carried on by the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society in connection with agriculture, creameries, egg packing, poultry, fruit growing, and flax cultivation, and they approved of the Department taking over that work and employing the experts engaged in such instruction as from April 1st, 1900, to such extent and subject to such conditions as the Department might approve. All such payments prior to February, 1905, other than those in respect of the organisation of agricultural banks, were made under this covering authority, and were not grants to the Society, but payments in respect of work done for the Department by the experts in the above subjects employed by the Society. Sanction for payments in respect of the organisation of agricultural banks through the organisers employed by the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society was given by the Board at their meeting on April 23rd, 1901, when £1,000 was voted for this purpose; at their meeting on November 4th, 1902, when a further sum of £1,000 was voted; and at their meeting on June 16th, 1904, when £1,200 was voted. The question of revising the arrangements for directing the work done through officers of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society was brought before the Board by the Department on August 25th, 1903, November 11th, 1903, June 16th, 1904, November 8th, 1904, January 25th, 1905, and February 8th, 1905. On the latter date a scheme employing the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, in connection with certain forms of agricultural organisation other than that of agricultural banks, was adopted. The expenditure upon payments to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society for work done for the Department by 904 the Society's agricultural experts is included in the amount set out in the Department's Annual Reports under the sub-head "Agricultural Instruction." The expenditure out of the votes of the Agricultural Board for organisation and agricultural banks is shown in the Annual Reports under the sub-head "Organising Agricultural Banks." Portion of an annual sum of £3,000 voted by the Agricultural Board for rural industries was also expended in payment for work done by the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society in the organisation of such industries. The amount so expended is included in the sum set out in the Annual Reports under sub-head "Rural and other Industries." The members of the Agricultural Board have always had full access to all particulars in regard to the Department's expenditure, and no expenditure out of the Department's agricultural surplus has been undertaken without their sanction