

KOTAI. COMMISSION ON At; I; K I I.ITUK. 



..//, 1-J19.] 



MR. R. C. BOURNE. 



[Continual. 



5649. You had IK> decrease in efficiency during Lho 

 N !:. There was a littkj perhaps duo 

 to |M>|ile iM-ing mobilised. 



I'.M: You think that the quality of 

 labour ia iiH-re*ing in efficiency? 1 think it ia in- 

 creasing because we are getting certain of tho 

 younger men luck who have lo<-ii in the Army, and 

 tin- vi'iinger men can work a HttK> lutrder than the 

 men l l.i to 00 years of age. We havo been deprived 

 of them for two or three yean and now they arc 

 retun 



1U11. IV/you think that tho shorter hours and tho 

 increased wages w ill attract the bettor t\ p.- >! man? 

 \\luit one hopes is that it will prevent the younger 

 moo from go'.ng into other occupations. 



6652 If it pre\ents tho younger men from giving 

 up agriculture your labour efficiency will be on the 

 iiu-re;iM- - A tittle except, I suppose, the proportion 

 of men of all nges "ill mnaiu about tlu> .same. You 

 , .inr.ot turn off tho older man because ho has got a 



I ttlf le.vs elli. lent if he has served you well for 20 

 years; you keep him on. The younger men are 

 coming "in and 1 think they are a help, but it is 

 difficult ! hat they will do. 



.">UV. Mr. Coutley: ^ mi told us that the farm 

 boloi ..iir father? Yes. 



5651. li- - In- i. .1111 his own land or is he a tenant 

 farmer!' It is hin own land. 



i. Ha.s he another occupation? Y'es. 



Do you mind telling us what it is? -Ho is a 

 1'rofcfvsor at Oxford. 



~. Is the farm run as a pleasure farm? No; 

 business. 



5658. On commercial lines? Y. 



'. Your father is not a practical farmer:' Nut 

 in the least. 



5600. Y'ou yourself are only just beginning to be a 

 practical farmer:- Y> <. . 



5661. Your father is not dependent for his livelihood 

 upon tho profits he makes on the form? Not for his 

 livelihood, no. 



o'*>'2. One (juextion about the wages. I see you 

 bring out in paragraph 7 the increase since 1914? 

 Yes. 



5663. Tho percentage increase in wages since, 1914 

 is I 10? That is on the assumption that the hours 

 are still further reduced from the hours at present. 



5664. I misunderstood that. Let me go back to 

 another figure. I understood you to say in answer 

 to Mr. Duncan that it took 12 men now to do what 



II men did before? YOB. 



5665. And it-hat the total cost per week shows a per- 

 centage increase of labour of 121-2? That is it. 



6666. Is that since 1914? That is since 1914. 



6667. On the other hand just see if my calculation 

 ia correct were the hours in 1914 63 hours at 18s. ? 

 Yen. 



8868. They are to-day 54 hours at 36s. 6d.P Yes. 



6669. I suppose the overtime is about lOd. an hour? 

 No, the overtime is Is. an hour art. present rates. 



5670. We have 1 n told 10d.? It has been Is. with 



us since the lM June this year. 



6671. That is for the hay making, but the ordinary 

 rate of overtime. I thiuK you may take it, is 10d.? 

 I will take that from you. 



6672. To make up (the present number of hours to 

 63 yon have to add on 9 more hours, and 9 hours at 

 lOd. would be 7*. 6d., ami adding the 7s. 6d. to the 

 36v 6d. it brings it up to 44s. That is, 44s. you are 

 paying a man now for the same number of hours' work 

 for which you paid him only 18s. before the war. That 

 it an increase of 111 per cent. That shows, does it 

 not, that th" wages having increased 144 per cent, the 

 name work has cost you I'-'l per cent, more? That 

 i it. 



5673. Does that show that they are working better 

 or working worne? They are working a little better. 

 I think that the old U1 hours were too long. 



5674. That doe bear out what you sni 1 that under 

 the nrw liouio at any rate the men are working b. 



Yen, I think that the old hours er<- too long, and 

 that the men could have done ibe work which tin \ 

 did in five or MX hours a week ICMK. Wb.it I do not 

 think ii that they can go much below the number of 

 Lours they are doing at present. 



i. Tlie only other thing I want to ask you is 

 this: You tell us thai your l>ook show that the wagea 

 lire 40 per cent, of the post of running .the faiinr 

 Y'os, approxim:: 



Mocs that include tho rent?- ^ 



"dn". And interest and everythii N interest. 



5C78. On yon get from your liook.s what pcrcenitage 

 labour is to the <"ost of growing wheat, for lii-tano-;' 

 The calculation 1 have made, if you omit the 

 interest .MI capital and the cost of haulage and take 

 the actual cost of cultivation, the labour is ll-.'i per 

 cent, on the straw crops. It is very difficult to put 

 down definitely what it i- M between wheai 

 barley. You can get the total c,n all 4ho crops. Imt 

 the absolute details as between the different crops are 

 very hard to get. 



6679. Is that taken out for the present year? N 

 that is for last year. 



5680. Have you got it for moie than oni 

 No, I am afraid not. I have only hail tun. 

 accounts kept for just over a year. A time sh. 

 kept by every man. 



6C81. Have you got out an\ costs for growing an 

 acre of wheat? I have got out the cost of the en 

 tion of an acre of whe.it if you omit interest on 

 capital, depreciation of live and dead .stock, and tho 

 cost of haulage. That comes to 10 I-,. |o;,|. If 

 you pirt those other it<'nis in it comes to L'l-'i tis. 9d. 



"ii'.^L 1 . Have you got out the pcrec'it-age oi lain. in a.s 

 against that?- 'Hie actual cost of labour on the farm 

 ing operations 1 worked out at 41-5 per cent. 



5683. Mr. ]liiirhi'lnr : In these costs of production 

 which you have put in to-day, whai various crops do 

 ihcy deal with? Wheat, oats, barley, beans, peas, 

 and hops : they deal also with cattle, 



5684. Are these all taken from actual figures in 

 your father's books? Yes, these are taken from 

 actual figures. The men are given time sheets, and 

 these are taken from the actual figures filled in by 

 the men on their time sheets. 



5685. What year do they apply to? 1918; we have 

 not, of course, got them out for this year yet. 



M86 II.,-,, you ;ol tin . ' ii.-l \ ield pet acre tb.it 

 has Keen received? I am afraid I have riot, because 

 a good deal of the crop is consumed on the premises. 

 It is difficult, therefore, to give the actual yield; it 

 has to be largely estimated. 



5687. So that what you have is the actual cost, 

 but an estimated yield? Yes. 



5688. Can you give us the cost per acre: Yes. of 

 the crops all lumped together; not of the individual 

 straw crops. 



5689. Mi'. Ankt'r Siiniuuiix: Do I understand that 

 the total cost of 13 odd applies to all the straw 

 crops? ^ 



5690. Not to wheat ? No, not specially. I have 

 taken them altogether; it is very difficult to get your 

 costs individually. For instance, it is difficult to 

 say what the cost of carting one crop is, and what 

 the cost of carting another is, but you can tell what 

 the total cost of carting is. The same thing applies 

 to threshing. 



5691. In fact, in a sentence, your experience is 

 that with the present reduced hours of labour it 

 takes 1'J men to do the work that 11 men used to do? 

 That is about it. 



5692. The 12 men produce the same result in labour 

 as 11 used to doP Yes, substantially. 



5693. Mr. Rea: With regard to this question of 

 12 men versus 11, you say that the rise in tho total 

 cost of wages exceeds the proportion of the individual 

 rise P Yes. 



5694. If the 11 men worked overtime to make up 

 the amount of work that it now requires 12 in. 



do, the 11 men would, of course, receive rather more 

 in the aggregate (ban the 12 men? If 11 men 

 worked overtime. I think that the rise in cortt would 

 no! even then be square in the case of tho individual. 

 because the overtime is not worked equally by all 

 tho men. KOI instance, the shepherd does not work 

 overtime or very rarely. The people who work 

 overtime mostly are tho tcamsmcn. 



