§ MR. WATT (Glasgow, College)To ask the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) how much was spent in 1907 by the Government in Ireland in furthering the principle of co-operation among farmers; how many farmers' co-operative societies now exist there; and whether they are on the increase.
(Answered by Mr. T. W. Russell.) The expenditure of the Department in the calender year, 1907, in connection with the purpose referred to, was £4,313 7s. 7d. This sum was paid to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society and included 1447 the special expenses of organising agricultural credit societies formed in the western districts of Ireland to borrow moneys for the purchase of seeds. The grants which the Department have made for some years past to the Organisation Society will cease at the close of the present year. The Irish Agricultural Organisation Society have informed the Department that the number of co-operative societies of all kinds in existence in Ireland on 1st January last was 925; that 28 new societies were formed during the first six months of this year as compared with 20 in the corresponding period of 1907; and that the movement is growing. The Department are not in a position to say what is the actual number of the co-operative societies above referred to at present in effective operation.