I move:
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £396,133 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1940, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Talmhaidheachta agus seirbhísí áirithe atá fé riaradh na hOifige sin, maraon le hIldeontaisí-i-gCabhair.
That a sum not exceeding £396,133 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1940, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Agriculture and of certain services administered by that Office, including sundry Grants-in-Aid.
Those who have been examining this Estimate will have noticed that there are certain sub-heads under which there is an increase for this year, and also certain sub-heads on which there is a decrease. I should just like to mention those first, and give the reasons. The first sub-head under which there is a small increase is F (3)—that is the Veterinary College. The explanation of this is not very far to find. Part of that increase will be due in the ordinary way to the increments of salary which are due to the staff there, also to the creation of a resident overseer, and again to a sum of about £535 for the provision of laboratory and surgery equipment. That is due to an anticipated increase in the number of students for this coming year. I should like to say that the number of students in the college has been going up gradually. In 1935-36 it was 117; in the following year it was 128; in the next year it was 180; last year it was 202, and for this coming year it is estimated that there will be 250. As Deputies are aware, the college course there now extends to five years, which, of course, is partly responsible for the greater number. The next sub-head under which there is an increase is G (1)—Improvement of Milk Production. This is almost entirely due to a small increase in the staff, and again to the ordinary increments that will become due, and to the appointment of an additional cow-testing instructor. The next sub-head is G (3)—Fertilisers Scheme. Last year on a Supplementary Estimate the Dáil voted £40,000. This year the Estimate is £48,000, because it is thought that, as the scheme will extend to the whole year, the expenditure will be somewhat higher. It is put down at £48,000, which is an increase of £8,000. The next sub-head is G (4), which is a new sub-head—Improvement of Racing. This £10,000 has been provided for the development of racing in this country by getting the committees to give better stakes. It is provided in the scheme that any racing committee which adopts this scheme must give the same as they gave last year, and must give the grant in addition. There are also other conditions which should make it more attractive for owners of race-horses to race their horses here in future. The grant was allocated after consultation with the Turf Club and the National Hunt Steeplechase stewards. Roughly, it is divided in this way: £900 to each of the important larger race meetings; £400 to the medium-sized meetings, and £100 to each of the smaller meetings where they hold at least one day's racing per annum. The grant may be spent at their discretion on either flat or steeplechase race meetings.
The next sub-head on which there is an increase is sub-head H.—Grants to County Committees of Agriculture. There is an increase there of over £25,000. This grant is, first of all, based on an equivalent of a twopenny rate in each county. The equivalent of a twopenny rate would require about £73,000. Then there will be also an extra grant payable to the amount of any income raised by any county in excess of the twopenny rate. We know, of course, what the counties are raising for the county committees of agriculture in each case, and this grant to cover the extra rate in each county will amount to £17,873. In addition to that, there is a temporary special grant of £6,000. This grant of £6,000 is provided to help some of the poorer counties where they find it very difficult, if not impossible, to raise the necessary finances for the county committees' schemes, and it is distributed amongst the poorer counties, varying from £100 to £700 in each case.
There is an increase of £22,000 in the grant for lime. Last year, £8,000 was provided and this year we are asking for £30,000. This lime scheme has been in operation for some years. It was very fully availed of in each county, and it was thought well to extend the scheme this year. It is administered by the county committees. They invite quotations from the kiln owners in their own counties or outside, if necessary, and also invite applications from farmers. They accept tenders from kiln owners at the best price they can get, and direct the farmers who make application to get their lime from the people from whom they have accepted the tenders. It is very difficult to give any idea of what the subsidy amounts to, but, on the average, it amounts to about 30 per cent. of the price of the lime. In some cases, where lime can be got on good terms, it may be even more than that, and in some cases it may be less; but, on the average, it works out at about 30 per cent.
In sub-head M (4)—Loans and Grants for Agricultural Purposes—there is an increase of £6,800. There are a number of items under this sub-head. Some of them are increased and others are decreased, but the total is increased by £6,800. The first one is, loans for the purchase of stallions. There is a slight decrease there of £200. These loans are granted mainly in respect of sires purchased by the Department for resale at a reduced price to selected applicants residing in districts where there is urgent need for a good type of horse and where it is impossible to get a person to buy a horse without help. Under the scheme a purchaser pays a deposit of one-third of the price of the horse and gets a loan for the remainder which is paid back in five equal annual instalments. I might say that very often the amount charged to the purchaser by the Department is not as high as the Department paid for the horse. The next one is, loans for the purchase of premium bulls. There is an increase of £800 in that item, which is much the same as the scheme for stallions, except that the county committees of agriculture select the applicants and the bulls are purchased by the Department and passed on to the selected persons.