asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state how many officials are employed by the Department and the County Committees of Agriculture as official samplers under the Weeds and Seeds Act and the Fertilizer and Feeding Stuffs Act (a) as whole-time officials; (b) as part-time officials; (c) as officers who act as official samplers as part of their duties; how many samples of seeds were taken by these officials in 1929; how many samples were tested at the Department Seed Testing Station in 1929; how many such samples were below the guarantee given by the merchant, in germination or purity; what action, if any, has been taken against the merchant when guarantee was not justified; how many samples of artificial manures were taken by these officials in 1929; how many of these samples were tested at the State Laboratory; how many of such samples were proved on analysis to be below the standard required by the Fertilizer and Feeding Stuffs Act, and what action was taken against offenders under this Act.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Agricultural Department Samplers.
Mr. Hogan
59 officers act as official samplers under the Acts referred to. Two of these are junior inspectors of the Department who devote most of their time to supervision (including sampling) of the trade in fertilizers, feeding stuffs and agricultural seeds. The remaining 57 are county instructors in agriculture and agricultural overseers, who act as official samplers as part of their duties.
1,425 samples of agricultural seeds were taken under the Weeds and Seeds Act in 1929. Of these samples 1,004 were tested at the Department's Seed Testing Station, and 106 samples were found to be below a reasonable standard of quality. The Act empowers the Department to publish or "black-list" sellers of bad seeds. 34 traders were blacklisted, and in the remaining cases the traders were warned as to the need for improvement.
103 samples of artificial manures were taken in 1929. Of these 93 were tested at the State Laboratory, and 7 found slightly below guarantee, but no discrepancies requiring any special action were observed.