The decade begins with JJ still active on the Board, still teaching, but living remotely and travelling up for the mid-week, an onerous situation for someone in his 70s. The present writer RJ is in England, working for Guinness on industrial process control development.

On January 19 1961 there is correspondence with the Dept of Agriculture about the Honours degree course. The College is fighting hard to maintain it in existence. JJ was present on this occasion, but absent the following week. On February 1, with JJ present, they agree to accept a tender from the Tredagh Building Co for a septic tank for Townley Hall, which is the manor house associated with the Kells Ingram Farm. They have aspirations to develop it as a conference centre.

On February 8 the Kells Ingram Farm is again on the agenda; in effect they decide to use some Kellogg Foundation money for operating capital, effectively re-scheduling the debt from the farm to the College. The College is looking for its loan to the farm to be eventually repaid.

On February 15, JJ being present, the Board decides to professionalise its finances: the Bursar will be the Chair of the Finance Committee, and this will include a Treasurer who will be recruited as a professional. This system to be given statutory recognition.

On February 22 they award the Chair of Economics to W J Louden Ryan. On March 1 a memo from JJ was discussed in his absence; this related to his lecture load. He had 6 lectures a week in 1943, and this was reduced to 4 in 1951. He wanted this to be regarded as a full quota and reflected into his salary scale, which should match that of other Professors. The material of his lectures related to a rapidly changing field, and he needed research time to keep up. The Board decided to leave things as they were; they clearly wanted to put the pressure on him to retire.

The farm comes up again: the present Farm Management Committee is to be replaced by a Farm and Woodlands Committee and a House Committee, the latter looking to the development of Townley Hall as a facility in its own right. The Farm Committee consisted of JJ, Mitchell, Webb, Chubb, McHugh, Lett, Baxter, Cullen, Murray and Pakenham-Walsh. The House Committee consisted of Mitchell, Moody, Webb, Chubb, Haughton, Wright, Cullen, Dawson, Pakenham-Walsh and the Agent. There was clearly here an attempt to develop the use of the house for events in intellectual domains other than agriculture.

The farm at around this time has an annual gross output of about £17K and employed 10 men. There were 182 cattle (a mix of dairy and beef), 449 sheep, 178 pigs, and the main crops were barley, potatoes and wheat. They had tried peas unsuccessfully. Agriculture and veterinary students spend one day per week there. There were also 22 acres of woodland. This was basically JJ's model mixed farm concept, on a scale such as to enable synergies to be demonstrated, as described earlier in his 1942 SSISI paper on 'Capitalisation of Irish Agriculture'.

(This was totally at odds with the Agricultural Institute model, which consisted of a dispersed set of specialised units. The analysis of how agricultural research developed under Dr Tom Walsh's leadership must remain for the present on the longer-term agenda. I give it a preliminary treatment in the 1970s in my Irish Times column.)

On March 8-11 there was another extended Board meeting, from which JJ absented himself; he had submitted a further memorandum supporting his earlier case. Again there was no action. JJ remains 'sulking in his tent, but surfaces again for the meeting on April 26, at which a Chair in Industrial Economics was set up, and alterations to Townley Hall at £17.6K were agreed. He had missed an earlier meeting on March 15 at which the School of Agriculture was on the agenda; they agree to advertise for a Junior Lecturer in farm management.

On May 17 1961 Louden Ryan gets the Chair of Industrial Economics. They also sanction a weekend school for the Fabian Society to be held in February 1962. The 60s 'new left' is showing signs of emerging. On May 24-29 they again discuss the School of Agriculture; it seems to be going down-market; there is talk of a one-year certificate. They decide however to re-advertise for a Lecturer in Farm Management, there presumably having been no takers for the junior post.

On June 7, with JJ present, they approve an agreement for the use of Townley Hall radioactive facilities for research in genetics. Following the earlier declaration of policy, a Finance Committee is set up with the Provost in the Chair, the Bursar as Convener and the (now professional) Treasurer as Secretary. The College is beginning at last to become business-like.

On June 14 JJ is absent; it is just as well, because he would have presided over evidence of the terminal decline of one of his first innovative projects, the DU Co-operative Society, which was given permission to install a cigarette vending machine. JJ is present on June 21 and 28; the Proctors's Lists are amended; JJ is still Senior Proctor, and if the Board has to amend his lists it looks as if he is beginning to fall down on the job. The Kells Ingram Farm one-year certificate will be the responsibility for the KI Farm Committee, and issued in its name. The College as such wants nothing to do with it. On July 5 the annual report of the farm is accepted; the content of this has been summarised at the end of the 50s module, as the situation described related basically to 1960.

At the October 2 meeting there is agreed a major staff recruitment, some 10 people, including a part-time lecturer in agricultural economics. Ominously there is a report of dry rot in Townley Hall, and this is confirmed on October 11, with a £2K estimate. JJ is absent on October 18 but present on the 25th when the farm auditor's report is approved. On November 1 Baxter and McHugh are appointed to the Veterinary College, along with Jessop.

On December 6 JJ is present to defend his Proctor's Lists. The Engineering School gets permission to buy a computer for £8000. (This is among the first few computers in Ireland; it figures as a resource subsequently in 1964 for the present writer RJ to use for modelling the performance of the projected Aer Lingus IBM real-time system; this is outlined elsewhere, in the techno-economic stream.) The Townley Hall £2K for dry rot is also agreed.

1962

On February 21 it is agreed that the Warden of Townley Hall is also to be a member of the House Committee. The development of this as a conference-centre type of resource is beginning to take shape. On February 28 they appoint a junior lecturer in agriculture; JJ was present.

Then on March 7, also with JJ present, it emerges that the dry rot bill for Townley Hall is going to be £10K; on March 14, again with JJ present, it is agreed that the Treasurer is to be on the Townley Hall Committee. Red lights are flashing. On the positive side however it is agreed that Moody and McDowell are to publish an edition of the Wolfe Tone Diary for the bicentenary of his birth in 1963.

On March 21, with JJ absent, the Finance Committee agrees a £200 rise on the £1850 annual salaries of the pre-1920 Fellow professors (ie Luce and JJ). He does not show up again until April 25, when he corrects the October 2 minute done in his absence: the lecturer they recruited for the School of Agriculture was in in 'economics' but in 'farm management'. So although his appearance is sporadic, he is alive to the issues. He misses May 9, but then shows up on May 23, 30 and June 6, when Grainger and Spencer report on a proposal for teaching agricultural microbiology.

JJ is absent on June 13 and 20; Martin O'Donoghue is appointed as a junior lecturer in economics. JJ is present June 27 and July 4; there are Proctors Lists, but he is no longer responsible. From now on he looks in when it suits him. On October 1, in JJ's absence, Dawson's US Army genetics research contract is renewed for 1963-65. JJ is present on October 10, 17, 24, 31; he is in College for the lecture term and may as well look in. The issue of the relationship with UCD in the Veterinary College is becoming acute; there is a quota system. JJ attends all the meetings in November; on November 21 Delaney in Physics gets his US Army research contract. (I note these US Army contracts in passing as it illustrates the fragile nature of the Irish scientific research system, and its undue dependence on foreign funding.) Then on December 11 JJ is absent.

1963

From this on one gets an increasing impression that the Farm and the Agriculture School are losing the battle for survival; the strategy is taking shape whereby Agriculture goes to UCD and the Veterinary College goes to TCD. The farm struggles on until 1967 when finally they decide to sell it. We continue with the blow by blow account of JJ's last academic battle.

On January 23 with JJ present they appoint RO Cobham to the agriculture school committee. On February 13 Jessop resigns and Baxter takes his place as Registrar of the Veterinary School. In the Agriculture School final-year students are to attend lectures in financial accounting; there is an extra £5 fee. Agricultural Microbiology is to be set up as from 1963/4. On April 24 they authorise the School of Agriculture to recruit students from abroad, an indication that they are conscious of losing out to UCD on the home market. On May 29 Baxter is to go to the Dept of Agriculture to discuss the future of the Veterinary College. On June 5, with JJ absent, emendations to the Kells Ingram Farm Report are noted; these are said to be in the Companion Volume, but have apparently got mislaid. JJ is present on June 19 and on June 26; there is a report considered from a firm of management consultants, regarding the general running of the College.

JJ attends no meetings in July or August; on August 21 it is agreed to raise the overdraft ceiling for the farm from £5K to £10K, the average not to exceed £7.5K. Then come October JJ puts in a fairly consistent presence; on October 23 there is a Goulding grant to the farm; Saive Coffey produces a research report, completing her contract at the end of the year. On December 11 RO Cobham is to report on a projected course on agricultural business studies.

1964

In January it is agreed that Louden Ryan is to be seconded to the Department of Finance for 3 years. Magee College is discussed. In February Pakenham-Walsh becomes the head of Business Studies; the Agriculture School actions are discussed and approved. In March it is agreed that no new Honours students in agriculture are to be accepted. In the first quarter there are weekly meetings of which JJ misses two. The run-down of agriculture continues.

In the second quarter weekly meetings continue, of which JJ misses 4. Muintir na Tire complain about tree felling at Townley Hall (April 8). Thornton reports on the need to set up a Department of Statistics (April 22). Baxter is to represent TCD on Board of the Agricultural Institute (May 13). Pakenham-Walsh resigns as chair of the School of Agriculture, being now in charge of Business Studies (May 20). JJ and Luce again make a written case regarding salaries; on June 3 in JJ's absence they shelve the letter. A 3-year temporary chair in economics is approved, to fill in for the absence of Louden Ryan. Baxter remains in the front line for dealing with the Dept of Agriculture (June 24).

Thus it is increasingly clear that the farm and the school of agriculture are being run down, and the College is counting on its veterinary interest as its main link with the Agricultural Institute. JJ is being marginalised, and his vision of a managed synergetic multi-enterprise large-scale farm as the model generator of rural wealth and employment is being eroded. Realising that he has lost the battle he turns increasingly to his last project, which is to pull together all is work on Berkeley into a publishable book.

In the third quarter JJ continues to attend Board meetings fairly consistently, except when it adjourns to a second day. Dr Bill Davis becomes Registrar of the School of Agriculture (July 1); by now this is a minor chore which can be imposed on a relatively junior chemistry lecturer without causing problems. Pakenham-Walsh, released from agriculture, is active in trying to build up the Business Studies school and wants to recruit JFP Donovan(1) at a salary of £3K (July 24). In the end he gets Frank Drechsler at this level of lecturer salary. It is noteworthy that this level of salary in the Maths school is professorial; GA Dirac is appointed to the Erasmus Smith Chair at £2940, later increased to £3040 (Sept 30 - Oct 14).

In the fourth quarter the Board goes into a fortnightly meeting routine; JJ only misses one meeting. Pakenham-Walsh is building up the Business School jointly with UCD, holding seminars in alternate locations (Oct 14). There is further discussion of the need for Statistics; the possibility of a Chair emerges. They decide to advertise for a Reader at £2820-3000 (Nov 11). There are ongoing hints of trouble in the Maths school; a policy emerges of filling Chairs by internal promotion rather than by advertising(2).

In November they accept the 63-64 report for the Kells Ingram Farm, and record their thanks to the Committee (this latter nuance I take as a further indication of terminal decline; it must have been a somewhat thankless task!). Then in December they agree that the Registrar of the Agriculture School, Bill Davis, should be an ex-officio member of the Management Committee. Townley Hall is used for a Student Christian Movement (SCM) conference. References to the use of Townley Hall for conferences are rare, and its 'white elephant' status is being increasingly recognised.

1965

In the first half of 1965 there were 13 Board meetings, the fortnightly schedule having become the norm. JJ attends 9 of these and is absent for 4. Changes in the agriculture and forestry courses are agreed on April 21 in his absence. He is present on May 5 when Agricultural Institute grants were accepted for work in biochemistry, genetics, zoology and in the veterinary college. On June 2 it is agreed that JJ is to cease examining, and do 2 hours per week of lectures. On June 16 they note a letter of thanks from him for this concession. On June 30 they agree to a Fabian Society inter-college study weekend in Townley Hall.

In the second half of the year JJ is mostly absent. He is present on December 1 when Dirac resigns the Maths chair, and the Provost McConnell takes over as an emergency measure. In JJ's absence they specify a Chair in Statistics. There is a further SCM conference in Townley Hall; this is becoming an annual event, but overall conference events there seem to be rare.

1966

There were 28 Board meetings in 1966, and JJ attended 13 of them. He was present for the resolution of the Maths School crisis by internal promotion of Brian Murdoch (Jan 26), and for the appointment of Duncan to the Statistics Professorship(3) review committee (Feb 23); this also included the Provost, the Senior Lecturer, Murdoch, Watts (who subsequently became Provost) and McCarthy from the Central Office of Statistics as an extern member. He was there to support the organising of a lecture by TW Moody on Thomas Davis, followed by a reception, as the TCD contribution to the State-sponsored 1966 celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

JJ was there when on May 18 the Board finally got around to sanctioning the election of women to Fellowship. His maiden speech in the Lincoln College debating society in 1911 had been on women's rights. He must have enjoyed that Board meeting. But towards the end of the year he witnessed the ending of the Kells Ingram Farm episode. The Report came on October 10; they decide to defer discussion until they see the accounts on November 2. Then on November 9 they decide to sell the farm, subject to College agriculture policy and public policy; in other words they leave the door open for a while to see if some deal can finally be done with the Government and the Agricultural Institute.

1967

The Board has by now established a practice of meeting fortnightly, but pressures are rising and meetings tend to overflow from the Wednesday to the Saturday. JJ when he attends usually skips the overflow event. The issue of the TCD-UCD merger becomes important, as does Archbishop McQuaid and Catholic participation in TCD. There is a rearguard action fought over the farm and the agriculture school.

On February 22 with JJ present they discuss a submission from the Laurentian Society(4) regarding the position of Catholics. David Thornley is involved. There is a resolution from the UCG students expressing regret at McQuaid's statement. The TCD Board issues a statement on March 2, and there is an open discussion on TV as a result.

On April 26, again with JJ present, they welcome the Government's statement that there is to be one Dublin University with constituent Colleges. In the adjourned part of the meeting Gordon Foster(5) is appointed to the Chair of Statistics.

The 'merger debate' becomes intense, and this keeps JJ's interest in Board meetings alive. There are resolutions from the Junior Fellows (May 10); the question of Irish being essential for Matriculation is a problem for the many Norther students in TCD (June 21). The sale of the farm involves the need to consult with Mitchell, the Dept of Agriculture, the Veterinary College, the Agricultural Institute and the users of the radioactive source. Mitchell does not object to the sale of the farm, but in view of the merger politics the decision needs to be deferred (May 22).

They have difficulty in meeting with UCD. The Board was addressed by the Minister on June 7. The details of this proposal, in which lurked the proverbial devil, are outlined in Donal McCartney's 'UCD a National Idea' (G&M 1999) p314ff. By the end of the year the issue was moribund, but it had prompted many people to look at how closer relations could be developed, and contacts opened up, which continued. It encouraged TCD to think that even it they sold the farm, they could still have a role in agriculture.

1968 to 1972

There was a meeting on September 25 1968 at which the recommendations of the Merger Committee were discussed; JJ is on record as having attended. He was present again on April 23 1970; Watts and Dawson were also there; proposal were discussed arising from a meeting of TCD and UCD representatives. He also attended on July 24 1970; there was no item I could see which might have been of special interest to him; perhaps he just looked in at random. Spearman was there. He had, after all, not formally retired, being of pre-1920 vintage. I hope to get some input from people who encountered him on these occasions, and pick up what angle he had on the merger, if any. On previous form I conjecture that he would have held out for the interests of Magee College and of the Northern students.

JJ is on record as having attended again on January 27 1971; the topic discussed was 'the future University of Dublin'; the merger debate is rumbling on. Watts and Winder were there. In 1972 he did not attend any meetings; he is recorded as absent up to February 23, when he vanishes off the record; the Board accepts his wish to retire at a pension of £3207, with the status of Fellow Emeritus. The Senior Fellows met and co-opted TW Moody in his place.

The last act in the drama was played on May 3 1972 when it appears in the Academic Council minutes that favourable reports from 2 external examiners on his Berkeley book enabled them to recommend that he be awarded the degree of D Litt. He received this at the June commencements, on the same occasion as when the composer Shostakovitch was awarded an honorary degree. I had to help him up the steps in the examination-hall to receive it. He died a few weeks later.

Notes

2. I feel I should place on record a curious episode in which I was involved at about this time. Halberstam had resigned the Maths chair on May 6; in the end in October they appointed Dirac, but the arrangement seems to have been uneasy, and it would seem that the salary offered was not up to the international market standard. At the time I was working in Aer Lingus, and I got invited to lunch by Halberstam and Dirac; they filled me on on their view of College politics, and wanted me to apply for the job, as their preferred alternative to an internal promotion process. I found this strange; I felt I was being used; I declined, not in any case feeling up to professorial standard in maths, and not have any teaching experience. Nor did I feel like exposing myself in the front line in some academic political battle, where I had no understanding of the forces at work.

3. In retrospect I think JJ continued to take an interest in the Statistics question because regarded it as a job-opportunity for the present writer RJ. At his instigation I somewhat reluctantly applied for the job, projecting an 'operations research' aspect on the requirements. Such experience as I had was in using the results of other people's theoretical work in systems modelling; there was a statistical flavour in the representation of the environment, but I could hardly claim a status worthy of a Chair in Statistics. There was a somewhat edgy interview, at which McCarthy successfully demolished such case as I was able to make. JJ subsequently interpreted this as evidence of McCarthy's personal hostility to him. He was thinking of his own rejection by the SSISI after his Presidency of that body. My espousal of the OR approach in a statistical context was analogous to his approach in the SSISI, which the ascendant econometric and statistical community in that body had dismissed as 'anecdotal'. I discuss this elsewhere.

4. The Laurentian Society, called after St Laurence O'Toole, who was Archbishop of Dublin in early Norman times, was the meeting ground for the Catholic community in TCD who were there despite the Archbishop's ban. Thornley was a radical Catholic member of College staff who subsequently became a Labour TD and then an MEP.

5. The present writer RJ in the early 70s established a rapport with Foster, in the context of his masters-degree course in OR and statistics, which had a strong project-based component. This experience is put on record in the 70s; it has an academic and a techno-economic component. JJ on the other hand did not take kindly to Foster, who he identified with the Geary-McCarthy econometric group which then dominated the SSISI, and with the McCarthy episode described under Note 3 above. He also accused Foster of plotting to have him thrown out of his rooms in College, and there was a somewhat acrimonious correspondence.

Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999