I move:—
That in the interests of the production of stall-fed cattle and fat pigs, the Seanad requests the Executive Council immediately to issue a statement as to the future intentions of the Government with regard to bounties on the export of agricultural produce to Great Britain.
My object in putting down this motion was to obtain from the responsible Minister a contradiction of the persistent rumours which have been going around, that no bounties will be paid on our exports of live stock and agricultural produce after 31st December next. There is no use in the Minister making a vague statement such as was made on the occasion of the issue of the last Order—that bounties would be paid until further notice. That sort of statement will not create any confidence amongst the farmers. We all know that the bounties cannot continue to be paid at the present rate for any considerable time. That is a cause of uncertainty amongst the farmers. To remove that uncertainty, the Minister should make a definite statement that the bounties will be paid at the present rate until a fixed and definite date. I suggest that the Minister should state that the bounties will be paid at the present rate until 1st May, 1934. We should know where we will be up to that time. This statement should be made in the interest of stall-fed cattle-production and it should be made immediately or it will be too late. It is also necessary in the interest of the production of fat pigs, in the interest of agriculture generally and with a view to keeping agricultural labourers in their employment.
The farmers are going out of production. For the past couple of years, the more they produced the more they lost. They are not going to continue to do that. They would be very chary about producing anything if they thought they were not going to receive the bounties which are being paid at present. If there is no stall-feeding, I should like to know what is to be done with our oats, with our surplus barley and our other tillage crops. The Minister has promised to pay 10/6 per barrel next summer to registered corn merchants, who pay 9/- per barrel for the best white oats. He is to pay that next summer, but, if there is no stall-feeding, and if oats are not going to be fed to live stock, what is the Minister going to do with the oats? Oats have been sold at 5/- per barrel, and less, during the present season. Does the House realise that it would take the whole of 20 acres of oats to pay one agricultural labourer for a year? The Minister's policy aims at the production of oats, wheat and barley. How are farmers going to continue to produce oats if they are only going to get that price, or if, in a short time, we are to have no market for them?
With regard to the bounty on pigs, the Government's policy has muddled matters to such an extent that I am afraid our pig trade is doomed. The farmers are now thrown on the mercy of a few bacon merchants. There is no competition. Competition is completely wiped out, and farmers are not going to continue producing under existing conditions.
Since I tabled this motion a new Order has been issued by the Government with reference to bounties. They now propose to pay a bounty of 20/- a head on calves six months old. The previous duty on such animals was 25/- a head. The Government's fresh proposal is, from a national point of view and from the point of view of preserving our live stock, as mad a proposal as they have made up to the present.
I would like the House to give me permission to make an addendum to my motion to the effect that the Seanad objects to the payment of a bounty on young stock intended for export, and they recommend that a bounty be paid to the rearers of calves who keep them until they are 15 months old.