Yes. Immediate use will be made of these lands, in conjunction with the present research laboratory at Thorndale, Drumcondra, in extending immunisation experiments on contagious bovine abortion which are at present in progress and also to initiate new work which could not previously be undertaken owing to limitations of pasturage and housing accommodation. This will include experimental work in relation to bovine mastitis, the treatment of liver fluke infestation in cattle, hoose in calves and the immunising value of vaccines in louping-ill disease of sheep.
The farm will also enable the research laboratory to build up and maintain a foundation stock of cattle and sheep for the breeding, for experimental purposes, of calves and lambs the exact histories of which will be known with respect to health, age and breeding. A gradual re-division of the lands will have to be undertaken to provide paddocks of suitable size and supplied with water for the grazing of the breeding stock and experimental animals.
When the proposed research institute is erected and equipped, it will be utilised for research on various diseases and other conditions of economic importance affecting animal health and also for the preparation of biological products such as vaccines, anti-sera and diagnostic agents used in the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of disease. It will also act as an advisory centre and may conduct preliminary investigation work on individual farms in cases of illness and mortality the causes of which are obscure.
With regard to sub-head E (3), the sum of £13,670 under this sub-head is required for payment of a year's subscription to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations— 53,000 U.S. dollars—or £13,167 14s. 0d. plus the expenses of my Department in respect of the delegation to the Copenhagen Conference.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation had its beginning at a Conference of the United Nations which was held at Hot Springs, Virginia, in May, 1943. This conference set up an interim commission, which drew up a constitution and rules for a permanent organisation, and these were adopted at the first conference held at Quebec in October, 1945.
The objectives of the organisation are: (1) to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living; (2) to secure improvements in the efficiency of the production and distribution of all food and agricultural products, and (3) to better the condition of rural populations, thus contributing towards an expanding world economy.
Governments, in accepting the constitution of the organisation, pledged themselves to promote the common welfare by furthering separate and collective action for these purposes, and to report to each other on the progress achieved.
Among its many other functions, the organisation proposes to collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information relating to nutrition, food and agriculture. It intends to promote and, where appropriate, to recommend national and international action with respect to scientific, technological, social and economic research relating to nutrition, food and agriculture, the improvement of education and administration relating to nutrition, food and agriculture, and the spread of public knowledge of nutritional and agricultural science and practice. It proposes to concern itself with, inter alia, the improvement of the processing, marketing and distribution of food, the adoption of policies for the provision of adequate agricultural credit, national and international, the adoption of international policies with respect to agricultural commodity arrangements, and it also proposes to furnish, particularly in undeveloped countries, such technical assistance as Governments may require.
In the early part of this year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation arranged to take over the functions of the International Institute of Agriculture, Rome, a body of which this country had been a member for about 40 years. The institute had concerned itself mainly with the collection and publication of statistical, technical and economic information regarding agriculture. It was proposed that these services should in future be provided by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, whose functions are, however, to cover a very much wider field than those of the institute.
Both from the long-term aspects, that is, because of the statistical, educational and research services which the organisation will provide, and because of its interest in the allocation of food and supplies for immediate consumption, the Government considered that membership of the organisation was of importance to this country. Accordingly, it was decided to apply for membership and to send a delegation to the second session of the conference, which was announced to be held at Copenhagen in September last. As the Dáil had adjourned for the summer when this decision was reached, it was not possible to discuss it here before the conference. I was head of the delegation to Copenhagen, and I was assisted by officials of my own Department and of the Departments of Industry and Commerce, External Affairs and Local Government.
The agenda for the conference comprised a number of items of importance to us, such as consideration of the present world food situation and of the food situation next year. The main item on the agenda, however, was the proposal for a world food board. This had been prepared by the Director-General of the organisation, Sir John Boyd Orr, at the request of a special meeting of the organisation, to deal with urgent food problems, which had taken place in Washington in May of this year. Before dealing further with these proposals, I should like to state that the Copenhagen Conference was attended by representatives of some 41 countries, including all the larger agricultural and grain-exporting countries with the exception of Russia. Four new applications for membership were submitted to the conference, viz., from Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland and Italy. Of these, Switzerland and Italy were elected unanimously, and Ireland and Portugal received 24 of the 26 votes cast. The Polish delegate had previously stated that he was unable to vote for our admission, as his country had no diplomatic relations with ours. At the end of the conference, Hungary also applied for and was admitted to membership.
The Standing Committee on Financial Control, one of whose functions it is to determine the contribution to be paid by each member country, decided that this country's contribution should, as a temporary measure, be placed at a figure of 53,000 United States dollars. Although the organisation's budget for the present financial year is about 5,000,000 United States dollars, I consider that this contribution is rather high, and it is proposed to take steps to have it reduced when the matter comes up for consideration at the next regular session of the conference.
As Deputies are probably aware from the publicity which the World Food Board proposals have received, the functions of the board, as visualised by Sir John Boyd Orr, would be:—(1) To stabilise prices of agricultural commodities on the world markets, including provision of necessary funds for stabilising operations. (2) To establish a world food reserve adequate for any emergency that might arise through failure of crops in any part of the world. (3) To provide funds for financing the disposal of surplus agricultural products on special terms to countries where the need for them is most urgent. (4) To co-operate with organisations concerned with international credits for industrial and agricultural development and with trade and commodity policy, in order that their common ends might be more quickly and effectively achieved.
These proposals were discussed very fully at the conference. The Director-General, in presenting them, explained the need for a board such as he proposed, and said that the agricultural problem in peace time was to find a constant market at a remunerative price. Half the population of the world suffered disease, physical disabilities and premature death owing to lack of food, while at recurring periods enormous surpluses of unmarketable food brought ruin to farmers. Even now, farmers feared that agriculture would again follow the same disastrous course it followed after the first world war, and the problem could only be solved through an international agency capable of dealing with the food question as a whole. Delegates from many countries accepted the proposals in principle, but all referred to the need for further study and elaboration of details before they could commit their respective Governments to final acceptance. It was finally decided that a preparatory commission, representative of 16 countries, should be set up to examine the proposals in detail, and that it should present its report to the organisation, which would then send copies to all Governments for consideration and call a special meeting of the conference to discuss the result. This preparatory commission, composed of the following countries:— Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, India, Netherlands, Philippine Republic, Poland, United Kingdom, United States, is now sitting in Washington. It is expected that its report will be presented to the organisation within a few months. Invitations to take part in the work of the commission were also sent to Russia and the Argentine. It is understood that the latter accepted. An observer, who is holding a watching brief for this country, is attending the meetings of the commission.
