I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £444,768 chun slánuithe na suime is gáchun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1943, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Talmhaidheachta agus seirbhísí áirithe atá, fé riaradh na hOifige sin, ar a-n éirmhítear Ildeontaisí-i-gCabhair.
That a sum, not exceeding £444,768 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1943, 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.
The Estimate for the current year shows a net decrease of £451,677 compared with 1941-42. This decrease is accounted for principally by three items, namely, sub-heads B, G (3) and N (1). Sub-heads B and N (1) are concerned with the Diseases of Animals Acts. The foot-and-mouth outbreak last year cost something like £480,000.
There is only a token estimate in for that purpose this year, in the hope that we may not again be up against the same situation. The third item that accounts for the decrease is that there is no subsidy this year for artificial manures, and there is, therefore, a saving under sub-head G (3) of £52,875. I think these are the only remarks I have to make at the moment about the sub-heads as far as any decreases or increases are concerned.
The big task that is before us in the Department of Agriculture this year is to see that, on account of the scarcity of imports, we shall have more and more home-grown food of a certain variety, principally in the form of grain. We must, if at all possible, become self-sufficient in this coming harvest in wheat production. That has been our aim over the last two or three years. Deputies know that last year the Statistics Department reported that we had 463,000 acres of wheat. That was an increase from 305,000 acres in the previous year. We must, if at all possible, go further than that in this coming year. In order to encourage the production of wheat, a price of 50/- a barrel has been guaranteed. According to all the reports, the position looked, I must say, very promising up to about a fortnight ago, when the bad weather set in. Even so, if we get fine weather, I think a considerable area may still be put under wheat this year. We had a good supply of seed wheat of winter varieties, in fact more than we required. Many farmers made provision for their own seed requirements or obtained them by exchanging seed with other farmers. In addition, our own seed merchants assembled large stocks of winter wheat for sale. They also imported a substantial quantity of winter seed wheat. At the end of the winter season we had a good lot of wheat, which was meant for seed, left over.
The position as regards supplies of seed wheat of the spring varieties is also satisfactory. In August last the Irish Seed and Nursery Trades Association agreed to a scheme for assembling 100,000 barrels of seed wheat of spring varieties so as to ensure that there would be an ample supply. There was an agreement made with that association that if a portion of this wheat was left over they would be paid 50/- a barrel for it, but the agreement would hold only if less than a quarter of the amount assembled by them was left over. That condition may involve a commitment of about £5,000. That is true of every barrel of wheat for which we are liable between the 50/- which is payable to them, and the amount which we would get from the millers of 41/- per barrel. There was only a very limited quantity of imported spring seed. The demand for it was not very great, I think. At any rate, very little came in. Orders were made fixing the price of seed wheat. It is not necessary to go into them now because the season is practically over except perhaps to mention that the price of spring seed is 62/6 per barrel.
With regard to barley and oats, under sub-head O. 11., there is a sum of £2,000 provided to cover the expenses of the Cereals Distribution Committee from the period 1st April to the 31st August, 1942. This committee was established last August for the purpose of advising me on matters relating to the assembly and distribution of oats of the 1941 harvest, and to act as my agent in giving directions for the disposal of barley and oats purchased by licensed dealers. Although the acreage under barley and oats was higher in 1941 than in 1940, in the case of barley up to 28 per cent. and of oats up to 14 per cent., still the proportion of the crop marketed was very low. This may be accounted for by the fact that no maize was coming in, and that farmers had to keep a good deal more of their crop for feeding. They also, possibly in many cases, kept more for seed.
The quantity of oats marketed is creating a difficulty in providing a sufficient supply of oatmeal. There is a good demand for oatmeal because of the restricted flour supply. The supply of barley seed in the hands of maltsters will be sufficient to meet the demand. It was found necessary, early in January, to suspend the malting of barley for brewing and distilling in order to provide a reserve of barley for use in bread.
Malting for beer has now been resumed on account of the improvement in the position as regards imported wheat, but the supplies of barley and oats on hands do not warrant any hope that it will be possible in the near future to release either cereal for use in the feeding of animals. The position as to these cereals has been injuriously affected by transactions in the black market. Efforts have been made to restrict black market operations by prosecutions and the impounding of stocks of grain which were acquired in contravention of the law.
The position, at any rate, as regards seed wheat, seed potatoes and seed barley is, on the whole, satisfactory, but as regards root crops it is not so good. The great bulk of our mangels, turnip and swede seeds were imported ordinarily from Great Britain. It is feared the British authorities will not be able to export any quantity of these seeds this present year. About this time last year or a little earlier it was anticipated that the seed would be very scarce just now and farmers wers advised as far as possible to grow a certain small quantity of barley and turnip seed for their own use. Certain instructions were issued as to how this could be done. A good number of farmers availed of that advice and have their own mangel and turnip seeds. Certain of our seeds merchants also arranged with farmers to grow some mangel seed and turnip seed for them. Even so, I am afraid that there will not be sufficient for our full requirements. Farmers have been advised to be as economical as possible in the amount of seed they use. The prospect, I think, for turnip and swede seeds is better than that for mangel seeds. We may, I think, succeed in having a fair supply of seeds for turnips and swedes but I think it is fairly certain that we will not have enough mangel seed and, in view of this, arrangements have been made with the Irish Sugar Company to release large quantities of beet seed which, if sown where mangel seed cannot be got, will yield a suitable crop for stock-feeding. The price of these beet seeds haa also been fixed at a very reasonable level.
There is no change since the subject was discussed here before in the artificial manure position. There will be one grade of compound fertiliser issued this year. It will be put on the market in the form of a single compound known as emergency compound fertiliser and supplies will be very limited. The guaranteed analysis of this fertiliser is as follows:—20 per cent. soluble phosphate, 2 per cent. citric soluble phosphate, 2 per cent. insoluble phosphate, with 1 per cent. nitrogen and 1 per cent. potash. In order to provide as far as possible for an equitable distribution of even this small quantity, an Order was made regulating how this manure would be distributed. Under the Order a retail distributor is authorised to supply to an established customer, that is, a customer who bought artificial manures from him last year, a quantity of this fertiliser not in excess of 25 per cent. of what he purchased last year and he cannot take on a new customer without a permit from me. The reason, of course, for this limitation is obvious because there is not available more than about one-fourth of what was available last year. An Order has been made at the same time by the Department of Supplies with effect as from the 22nd February, fixing the minimum retail price of this compound at £10 per ton plus cost of transport from manufacturer's premises to the railway or canal station nearest the premises of the vendor. Farmers have been advised to increase by all possible means the supplies of farmyard manure by a more liberal use of surplus straw, etc., and also, as far as they can, to make use of the liquid manure. Along the seaboard greater use will be made of seaweed.
A lime scheme subsidised by the State and the county committees of agriculture is to be put in operation throughout the country and farmers are urged to take full advantage of this scheme as, in the present circumstances, whilst we cannot claim that lime is a substitute for artificial manures, we do know that it may make certain feeding matter in the soil available for plant feeding where it otherwise would not be available. The amount it is expected will be spent on this scheme is £71,000.
The Compulsory Tillage Order, known as No. 124, requires occupiers of agricultural laud to cultivate 25 per cent. of their arable land and gives me the necessary powers to enter on land that is not tilled under the Order. Up to the ]3th April, 98 holdings were entered on and arrangements have been made for the cultivation of this land either by means of conacre lettings or by the Department's officers directly.
We have had many difficulties to face owing to the shortage of supplies. One of them is the question of timber. As many Deputies have been agitating about this matter I would like to say a few words on it. A permit is required from the Minister for Supplies for timber of any quantity exceeding in value £5 per month and discussions have been taking place between the Department of Supplies and my Department. Any applications for timber for agricultural purposes usually come to my Department for advice. We have been trying so far to provide the timber necessary. The varieties that are available are principally spruce and beech, beech being more plentiful, as it happens, than spruce because beech is not used for many of the purposes for which spruce could be used. We have consequently been trying to use beech for butter boxes and where the beech is very well seasoned it has been good on the whole but, if not thoroughly seasoned, has given rise to moulds. We have used less valuable timber for the making of egg cases and also boxes for the export of such things as meat, fish, rabbits, poultry and so on. We have tried to get these cases and boxes returned. We have not succeeded in getting returned the butter boxes that were sent out under butter last year. We did succeed, however, in getting a good number of the egg cases returned —not all—but they have been coming back. We have not tried to get the boxes which go out under fish, meat and so on because we feel they could not be used again. They would be badly stained and, being made of rather poor material, could hardly be used a second time.
Another supply question is binder twine. We hope, when the harvest time arrives, to have a fair supply, probably enough if used carefully by the farmers concerned and not asked for except by those who want to use it. We have hopes of getting in a certain amount of raw material for the making of binder twine between this and the next harvest and in that way to make up a certain deficiency. Arrangements are being made to try native raw material so far as possible next year and experiments have been carried on with green flax and other materials. I think it will be possible at least to provide some of the binder twine necessary from home-grown materials of that kind.
With regard to machinery, threshing mills, agricultural tractors, and tractor ploughs, which were all imported freely and in increasing numbers up to 1940, are becoming somewhat short. They are almost impossible to secure now. But, luckily, there are reasonable supplies of spare parts either in stock or on order, and the latter, I think, will arrive. It is most important for owners of threshing mills, binders, and such machines, to look after the machines as soon as possible so as to order the necessary spare parts, and not leave the repairs or the putting into order of those machines until the last moment. The output of horse-drawn farm machinery, as well as the supply of spare parts by home manufacturers, is, considering the difficulties encountered, being maintained at a reasonable level. The curtailment of imports of essential raw material is, however, affecting production, and this, it is feared, will become worse as time goes on. In view of the kerosene and petrol position, farmers should, so far as possible, keep their horse-drawn machinery in order, and have it available if the fuel position should become worse.
With regard to the fuel position, the Department keeps in constant contact with the Department of Supplies, and I must say that, so far as paraffin for tractors is concerned, we have not nearly as many complaints this year as we had last year. If we are to judge this matter by the number of complaints that come in, the scheme of issuing permits for paraffin would appear to be running very much more smoothly this year than last year. Owners of agricultural tractors are granted allowances on the basis of the work to be done, and are required to furnish in their application forms particulars of the work. In the case of poultry breeders, who require kerosene for incubating equipment, a rather satisfactory arrangement was made with the Department of Supplies; I mean satisfactory considering the amount of paraffin available. Monthly permits have been issued since November, 1941, to poultry station-holders under the poultry stations scheme, and similar permits have been issued to poultry farmers and institutions since January. In December, 1941, allocations were made to holders of Putnam lamps in connection with the poultry stations scheme, and permits to ordinary owners of incubators were issued in January, as I have mentioned.
A fairly large number of complaints has been received during the last few months from poultry breeders who were not granted any allowances of kerosene, or who stated that the allowances granted to them were inadequate. These complaints were taken up with the Department of Supplies as they occurred. The difficulty in many cases appeared to arise from the fact that the poultry breeders concerned failed to apply under the Emergency Powers (Kerosene Rationing) Order, 1941, for registration as industrial users of kerosene before the closing date—31st May, 1941. However, as the cases came under our notice, we got them rectified in most cases by sending them on to the Department of Supplies. It would be as well for such people to register in time for the coming year. Kerosene was also supplied to egg dealers for egg testing.
Representations were also made by my Department to the Departinent of Supplies with a view to granting a special allowance of kerosene to farmers for lighting purposes during the winter months, but the Department of Supplies intimated that it was not practicable to grant such allowances except in the case of registered dairy farmers. Allowances of petrol and kerosene for stationary engines used on farms are being granted to registered users and we have not received very many complaints from such users. Some complaints have been received from lorry owners that the allowances of petrol granted to them for the haulage of lime and culm for lime burning are inadequate. From inquiries made to the Department of Supplies we find that most of these lorry owners are receiving a supplementary allowance of petrol equivalent to the basic allowance—that is usually 40 gallons basic and 40 gallons supplementary—and we understand from the Department of Supplies that that is the maximum amount that is given to any lorry owner.
Representations were made to the Department of Supplies also on behalf of limekiln owners who require culm for burning lime for agricultural purposes. That Department intimated that, in the case of kiln-owners situate outside the scheduled turf area, that is in the coal areas, permits for the purchase of culm were granted, and in the case of limekiln owners in the turf areas, where it was proved to the satisfaction of the Minister for Supplies that turf could not be used, permits were also issued. In some cases the owners used a certain amount of turf and a certain amount of culm as a mixture.
The next matter about which I want to say a few words is butter. The production of creamery butter for the year ending 31st March was 658,000 cwts., which is practically the same as for the year ended 31st March, 1911. It was practically the same last year as the year before; I think there was only a difference of about 3,000 cwts. This was disappointing because in the summer and autumn of 1940 there waa a long period of drought and a decline in milk production was only to be expected on account of that. Last year we had no such period of drought and one would expect the production of milk to be higher, but it did not prove to be higher as a matter of fact. There was practically no reduction—there was some slight reduction, of course— owing to foot-and-mouth disease, because the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease did not affect the main creamery districts.
The quantity of butter stored last winter was 160,000 cwts. which is almost twice as high as ever was stored before, and indeed was as much as we had cold-storage capacity for. As from August lust, imported fats ceased to be available and this naturally resulted in a substantial increase in the home consumption of creamery butter, which for the year amounted to the very high figure of £544,000 cwts. Home consumption could have absorbed another 20,000 cwts. if we had it. But, as I said already, we could not store more, because we had not the capacity. We are, however, making provision for a greater cold storage capacity next winter and we hope to store more butter than we did this year. The value of butter was maintained throughout the 12 months at the figure of 158/- per cwt. This was effected by a retail price of 1/7 per lb. which meant to the creameries 152/- per cwt. They were paid in addition to that a production allowance of 6/- per cwt. and this enabled the creameries in turn to pay about 6d. per gallon for milk.
