The Principal Act in this case was passed in 1933. It was passed in order to enable the Government of the Irish Free State to regulate the export of bacon in the first instance to comply with the quota regulations that were imposed by Great Britain. It also, of course, gave power to regulate any other article that might be quota-ed by Great Britain and it practically was limited to trade with Great Britain, on account of certain words which I will refer to later. The British Government at this time laid it down that a quota could only be taken up by a country which had provided certain machinery for dealing with the quota and that was why the Bill became necessary at the time it was brought in. Now, the Principal Act has certain words which, as I say, practically confine the application of the Act to trade with Great Britain, and confined the application of the Act also to commodities which formed a regular trade between this country and the country which applies these restrictions. Now, the amending Act becomes necessary for other reasons besides these. In the first place, the definition of agricultural products in the principal Act has been questioned. Although not questioned seriously in court, it has been questioned by certain people, whether in the definition bacon, butter or meat is covered. The definition in the Principal Act defining agricultural products says that they shall include "any product of agriculture or horticulture and any article of food or drink wholly or partially manufactured or derived from any such product, and fleeces and skins of animals but does not include intoxicating liquor." It is held by some at any rate that a product of horticulture or agriculture would not include live stock; that the definition would only include grain and such things growing from the soil and that we are not really covered for live stock and for bacon which the Bill was primarily drafted to cover. It is held, however, by others that bacon and meat are covered by the Act in that definition but the amending Bill commences by amending the definition of agricultural products and makes it quite plain, in order that there may be no doubt about it.
The second point which is dealt with in this amending Bill is this: that in the Principal Act we can only apply the Act where we had been carrying on regular trade with the country which applied restrictions. Now we can also apply it where the Government of the Free State makes an agreement with any other Government with regard to trade, and that is particularly necessary, as a consequence of certain agreements that have been made. I shall give two examples. In the German agreement we export a certain amount of agricultural products to Germany; a certain percentage will be cattle, a certain percentage eggs, a certain percentage butter, but there is 15 per cent. left for other agricultural products. Now, it is absolutely necessary that we should have power to regulate and say what goes out in that 15 per cent. We can, for instance, send out wool, hides, horses or meat meal as soon as our new factory is going in Roscrea, and a certain list of things like that to fill up the 15 per cent. But it might conceivably be very inconvenient to allow the whole 15 per cent. to be taken up by one exporter, so that the amending Bill would be necessary to give power to regulate the exports of this country so as to divide up that 15 per cent. between different products which we are anxious to get rid of for the time being. Another example I can cite is this: we have got a certain agreement with Spain to take eggs. Last year we had an agreement but we had no power to limit that export of eggs or to limit the numbers who would export the eggs, and the result was that when we started exporting these eggs to Spain—and when we were paying the same bounties on eggs going to Spain as to the British market—three or four exporters tried to grab the market. They cut the prices against one another in Spain, and the result was that we got nothing out of it. We got only 6d. or 9d.—it is very hard to say—in the Spanish market, less than if they had kept up the prices. The only way we can deal with that is definitely to bring in the Quota Act and register exporters to Spain and give a certain quantity to each of the exporters who are registered. In that way there will be no necessity for this cutting-prices competition between them and we could get for this country, at any rate —whether we get a profit for ourselves out of the transaction or not—better prices for the producer. We could not have applied the original Act to Germany or Spain because we had not in either of these cases been carrying on a regular trade in the commodities mentioned. Therefore, the Act did not apply.
The only other point is that there is power to transfer the functions of the Minister for Agriculture to the Minister for Industry and Commerce. The reason for it is this: The Minister for Industry and Commerce is dealing with certain trades in all other respects, and the Minister for Agriculture does not deal with them at all. For instance, take the case of wool exporters. The Minister for Agriculture has nothing to do with wool exporters. The Minister for Industry and Commerce has certain dealings with them, and it would be better that he should deal with them in this respect also.
I was asked in the Dáil why could I not make an Order and let the Minister for Industry and Commerce then carry out the administration of that particular Order. That cannot be done under the Ministers and Secretaries Act as it at present stands, because everything would have to be done by an officer of the Minister for Agriculture. Therefore, the whole administration of the Order would have to be done in the Department of Agriculture. The alternative is to have the thing done in the way that is set out here in this amending Bill. That is, in the case of any particular product exported to any particular country where the Minister for Industry and Commerce should deal with it instead of the Minister for Agriculture, the Executive Council can make an order transferring the powers which the Minister for Agriculture has under this Bill to the Minister for Industry and Commerce. He has the same powers and functions then as the Minister for Agriculture to carry out business under that item. These are the only points which arise under the amending Act.