§ Mr. STANIER (for Mr. Courthope)asked what are the amounts of the grants in the Session of 1909 and the Estimate for 1910–11 for the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, respectively; why the grants and estimates for the Irish Department are so much greater than those for the British Board; what accounts for the increase of £181,500 for the Irish Department; and why a similar increase of vote is not asked for for the Board?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe figures are as follows:—
| Net grunts in the Session of 1909. | Estimate 1910–11. | |
| Board of Agriculture and | £ | £ |
| Fisheries | 173,169 | 185,710 |
| Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, Ireland | 234,817 | 416,356 |
§ The Estimate for the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction contains provision for institutions of science and art, for the geological survey of Ireland, and for grants for schools and classes of science and art and technical instruction and for day secondary schools, the corresponding provision to which in Great Britain appears in the English and Scotch Education Votes. Approximately £110,000 is taken in the Estimate for the Irish Department for the above objects. I should also explain that there is included in the Vote for. the Irish Department the grant- 951 in-aid of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland, which now amounts to £169,750, having been largely augmented under Section 49 of the Irish Land Act, 1909. The principal items of which the increase of £181,500 is composed are £163,750 under the above Section, of which £144,750 is for the Congested Districts Board and £19,000 for the Department; £9,100 for equipment, etc., of the new Royal College of Science, Dublin; £4,000 for grants to schools; and £2,810 for increase of staff.