§ MR. J. MACVEAGHTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the official statement that the aggregate amount voted by Parliament for the service of the Board of Agriculture for England and Wales for seven years from 1900–1 to 1906–7, inclusive, "was £766,403, equivalent to 4.9d. per head of the population of 1901; and whether, for purposes of comparison, he can state the aggregate amount voted from all sources for the Department of Agriculture in Ireland during the same period, and the rate per head of the population of Ireland.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The aggregate amount voted by Parliament for the service of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland for the seven years from 1900–1 to 1906–7, inclusive, was £1,198,502. This sum is equivalent to the amount which would be produced by an annual rate of a little over 9½d. per head of the estimated population of Ireland on 30th June, 1906, viz. 4,387,887. A comparison, however, cannot properly be drawn between this amount and the amount voted for the service of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. The amount voted to the Irish Department, as quoted, includes £185,000 which was borne on the Vote of the Department, but paid over to the Congested Districts Board. It also includes £280,581 in respect of the cost of the Royal College of Science, the Museum of Science and Art, the National Library of Ireland, the Metropolitan School of Art, the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the Geological Survey of Ireland; and it further, includes £149,050, consisting of grants to schools of science and art and day secondary schools. No corresponding provisions are contained in the Vote for the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries except in respect of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In England the moneys voted for technical education and for the Geological Survey are administered not by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries but by the Board of Education. It is also to be borne in mind that a considerable portion of the funds administered by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland is 501 furnished not by voted moneys but by the Department's Endowment Fund, as provided by section 15 of the Act establishing the Department.