Yes, in respect of agricultural loans. There is one particular branch of agricultural credit in regard to which I think a reduction in the rate of interest is urgently necessary. We all agree that it is desirable to improve the equipment on our farms whether it be by the purchase of tractors or of any other type of up-to-date machinery which is required. If a farmer wants to purchase that machinery through a loan from the Agricultural Credit Corporation, he will have to pay 4½ per cent. interest, apart altogether from the great difficulty he will have experienced in trying to get the loan. If he wants to purchase a tractor or farm machinery of that kind through finance companies which cater for hire purchase, he will have to pay, I think, 13 per cent. That is a heavy burden and handicap on the farmer who wants to operate in a progressive manner. It would be a good idea to consider the question of the operation of the hire-purchase system by the Department so as to provide for the purchase of tractors and other farm equipment at a reasonable rate of interest. That is a very desirable thing and it would add to the output of our land by making for more efficient farming.
In the course of his speech, the outgoing Minister for Agriculture was very emphatic in his request to the present Minister to keep control over all the various activities over which he had control. He referred particularly to control over feeding stuffs. Apparently he took over control of that section of the Department of Industry and Commerce and retained it in his hands for some time. He claimed that one of the advantages of having that control in the hands of the Minister for Agriculture would be that the Minister would be able to ensure that the farmer would get his requirements at a fair price. I do not think that the history of the outgoing Minister in regard to that matter was very happy. While the price of pigs went down very considerably in the early part of this year, the prices of bran and pollard were doubled, and they were doubled without any apparent justification. It is true that there was an improvement in the quality of the pollard, but as far as the bran is concerned there was no improvement whatever in the quality even though the price was doubled. On the very eve of the General Election the Minister found it possible to reduce the price to a considerable extent— just as he found it possible to increase the price of eggs from 2s. to 2/6. Those might only be in the nature of a deathbed repentance. On the very last day that the Thirteenth Dáil was in session I referred, while Deputy Flanagan was speaking, to the fact that we were witnessing a wake, a wake over the Minister for Agriculture. It struck me at the time that it was a very nice wake, and that it was very nice to hear Deputy Flanagan and others praise the corpse. The only unsatisfactory feature was the fact that the corpse was inclined to interrupt at frequent intervals.
However, all that is past and we are facing now a future which, I think, holds a reasonable prospect of advancement for agriculture. I base that hope mainly on the fact that the Minister is a man who has lived on the land and by the land. He is a man who, from the very outset, has assured his fellow-farmers that he will meet them and discuss their difficulties and problems with them. He will not look down on them as a section of the community which is inferior to him. As a result, I believe that we shall get that increase in the volume of agricultural output which will make for a general improvement in the standard of living of our people. We must not lose sight of the fact that the farm workers also are receiving benefit from this concession with regard to agricultural prices. There can be no real improvement in the standard of living of our people until we get more out of the land while, at the same time, we preserve its fertility. That is the basis of a sound agricultural policy.
The outgoing Minister for Agriculture from time to time announced various spectacular plans to various committees of agriculture. We heard about his parish plan and about the three-club plan. Few people knew what the parish plan was and how it was to operate and fewer still knew about the three-club plan. Apparently the three-club plan was designed to secure the co-operation of three young farmers' clubs in adjoining areas. These plans seemed to have been left high and dry by the outgoing Minister. I have never agreed with the idea of describing those additional parish instructors as "parish agents". I think the outgoing Minister imported that idea from the United States. We have agents enough in this country.
In addition to that, I never agreed with his idea of selecting specially privileged counties for the application of the scheme. If a scheme of this kind is to be operated, it ought to be operated over the whole country and the whole country treated as one unit. I think the whole matter is at the moment in the melting pot and ought to be considered. An additional advisory service for agriculture is desirable, but I do not think it ought to be on the lines indicated by the previous Minister for Agriculture either in his three-club plan or in his three-parish plan.
The Minister has indicated that it is his intention to meet representative farmers' organisations whenever it is possible and necessary to do so and discuss their problems with them. I would suggest to him that one of the first vocational organisations of farmers which he ought to meet is the Dublin Milk Producers' Association. They have requested an interview with the Minister and I am sure he will be only too glad to discuss their problems with them. I hope he will be a little bit more reasonable with that other organisation in the Dublin area, the agricultural association, which is, to a great extent, concerned with the production of tomatoes and other hothouse products. Those people were treated with a good deal of scorn and ridicule by the Minister's predecessor and I think they ought to be better treated by the present Minister.
There is just one other matter to which I would like to draw the Minister's attention and that is the possibility of developing a canning industry in regard to horses. A good many complaints have been made in this House and outside in regard to the cruelty of exporting live horses. It is generally accepted that it would be more desirable to have those horses required for human consumption processed in this country and thus prevent the torture suffered by those animals while being exported alive. When the matter was raised in this House prior to the election, the Minister's predecessor said that the whole agitation against the export of live horses was initiated by the commercial interests engaged in the canning industry. Every Deputy knows that there was no truth whatever in that. The people who raised that matter were concerned mainly with the humanitarian aspect of the question and the necessity of avoiding, if possible, undue hardship and suffering to animals. There is, in addition, the desirability of promoting in this country an additional industry. It may not be a very large industry but, at the same time, it would be a very desirable one. I have pleasure in congratulating the Minister on his appointment to his present position.
