I move:
That in view of the desperate position of agriculture following the unfavourable harvest, in the opinion of the Seanad steps should be taken by the Executive for the immediate provision of employment or relief for those engaged in agriculture.
In moving this motion, my desire is to promote a discussion on a question of the greatest importance in this country at the moment. I hope that it will be discussed in a national spirit, as it is certainly my desire that the facts should be brought out as fairly and impartially as possible, and that we may have the benefit of the wisdom of Senators from the various parts of this House upon a question of such immediate importance to the people of this country, especially the agricultural community. What is the condition of agriculture at the moment? I will allude only to three or four general heads. I find that in the County of Kerry, where the farmers are more industrious than in any other county in Ireland—quite as industrious as those of any other county—where the people have climbed up the hills and cultivated to the hilltops, at the present time farms are derelict, and when the Commissioner who has been sent down to take up the business of the County Council went to Tralee his first pressing duty was to call together his inspectors from the various districts and find out what is to be done with the derelict farms. Anybody acquainted with the position of this country, with the love of the people for their lands, will at once conclude from that that there must be something very wrong and very bad in the conditions of the present time.
Another matter which to those acquainted with agriculture is of serious portent is this: all over the country farmers are selling their milking cows. They are doing that only under the pressure of dire necessity, and the Minister for Agriculture, who comes from the west of Ireland, will, I am sure, be familiar with an old Irish proverb which says "When a man comes to sell the cow, famine is not far distant."
Another indication of the condition of the country is that civil bill decrees and civil bill processes are flying like snowflakes all over the country, and the only industry that is prosperous is the industry of the civil bill officer and of the solicitor for the Department of Lands and Fisheries. These are the industries that are prosperous. We had figures some time ago, and there are Senators here who will bear me out, showing that the costs in one county alone awarded to State solicitors for civil bills against unfortunate tenants for rents amounted in all to £3,500, and as I firmly believe in reality to £7,000. These are three signs of the times. I think you will admit that they are very serious signs.
There is another thing which I would like to refer to, that the land of Ireland is going out of cultivation. In the past ten years 350,000 acres of land have gone out of cultivation. The rate at which the land is going out of cultivation is accelerating. It is a geometrical progression, and my submission is this: in the last twelve months 104,000 acres went out of cultivation. That means serious diminution in the amount of the production of the soil. It means serious loss to the farmers, it must mean starvation to the farm labourers, because, of course, the farm labourer only gets his employment by means of the tillage, and if the land goes out of cultivation there is no employment for the working man. These are four indications of the condition of the rural population at the present time.
The Minister has made regulations, some of them very good regulations, and some of them perhaps more than doubtful, but I would prefer to see the Minister make a regulation that would keep the worker on the land. I would rather see him do something to put a stop to the divorce between labour and the soil, because if depopulation goes on at its present rate we will have nothing in the country but deserted villages. These are four or five of the main matters to which I would direct your attention, as indicating the condition of the agricultural population at the present time, both farmers and labourers.
In order to enable you to suggest some solution I propose to indicate some of the causes which have brought about that result. The causes so far as I can see are these: there has been a failure in some cases to produce the best quality of agricultural products. Our butter is 30/- a cwt. cheaper than the Danish butter. Bacon on the other hand is 20/- a cwt. dearer than the Danish bacon. It is a curious commentary that our butter is under State control and our bacon is in the hands of private people, thoroughly efficient private firms. There is a fact for this Seanad to consider.