and for this he is charged a rent of one to two shillings a week ...
These cottages by the wayside give a hopeful aspect to the country
... flowers are before the doors of the new cottages and creepers
upon the walls. The labourer can keep pigs, poultry, and a goat, and
grow his potatoes and vegetables in his garden allotment."[*]

[Footnote *: Padraic Colum: "My Irish Year," pp. 18, 19.]

Local Government

In 1898 a Local Government Bill was passed for Ireland which placed the
administration of the poor law and other local affairs for rural
districts on the same footing as in England. The rule of the Grand
Juries, which had lasted for two and a half centuries, and which had, on
the whole, carried on local affairs with credit and success, was now
entirely swept away, and elected bodies were placed in full control of
local taxation, administration, and patronage. In the case of the larger
towns free municipal institutions had already existed for some sixty
years. In these the franchise was now reduced, and is wide enough both
in town and country to admit every class of the population. Since 1899
the new elective bodies have had important duties to fulfil in regard to
the development of agriculture and technical instruction.

The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction

This new Irish Department of State grew out of a demand formulated after
long inquiry and discussion by a voluntary Irish committee representing
both Unionist and Nationalist opinion. It was established in 1899, and
now commands the large endowment of 197,000 pounds a year, with a
capital sum of over 200,000 pounds. The annual endowment is clear of all
charges for offices and staff, which are on the Civil Service Estimates.
Its head is a Minister responsible to Parliament, but associated with
him are Boards of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, two-thirds of
which are elected respectively by County and Borough Councils. Without
their concurrence no expenditure can be undertaken, and local work is
largely carried on through committees appointed by these Councils. The
people at large are therefore intimately and responsibly associated with
the work of the Department, the annual meetings of which form a kind of
industrial Parliament, where the whole economic organisation of Ireland
can be reviewed, debated, and developed. The Department works by
teaching, by inquiry, by experiment, and has an immense field of
activity i