MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



26 August, 1919.] 



MB. M. D. BANNISTER, F.S.I. 



[Continued. 



5944. I daresay you know the farmer as well as I 

 do on the chalk who has been paying higher wages 

 than some of the Chichester farmers. I am referring 

 to the farmer who has taken one derelict farm after 

 another ? Yes. 



5945-6. You probably know who he is? Yes. 



5947. It is not so largely the land itself, but a great 

 deal to do with the organisation of labour whether a 

 good profit is obtained from the land, is it not? 

 That particular farmer has an extraordinarily good 

 outlet for his produce in the big towns on each side 

 of him. 



5948. He has not only got one farm but he has taken 

 about five altogether? I know. 



5949. He has taken these derelict farms on the light 

 chalk land one after the other, and slagged them, and 

 done extraordinarily well? Yes, and I am sure the 

 farmer would be pleased to come here and give you 

 any information you want. He is a most extra- 

 ordinarily energetic and able farmer, and is always 

 very pleased to do things that are helpful in any way. 



The Chairman : Thank you very much for the sug- 

 gestion. 



5950. Mr. Green : I suppose you do not know any- 

 thing about the land to the south of Chichestsr? Yes, 

 I make valuations on it. 



5951. What is the average yield per acre of wheat 

 and oats would you'say? I should think wheat would 

 get up to six quarters pretty well ; it is the best wheat 

 growing district we have got anywhere in the south. 



5952. May I ask where this extraordinary yield 

 of nine quarters to the acre comes from? Hurstpier- 

 point. 



5953. Can you tell UB at all what accounts for 

 the great yield? The land was extraordinarily well 

 done previously for his roots ; it waa dressed very 

 very heavily both with dung and with artificial and 

 it has gone right away ; it is a most extraordinary 

 crop. 



5954. Mr. Thomas Henderson: May these five ex- 

 amples you give of wheat cultivation be taken as 

 representing the average for that particular district? 

 Yee. 



5955. So far as I can make out the average cost 

 per quarter over the five examples is 102s. lOd. ? I 

 have not gone into that. 



5956. Your average yield per acre is just exactly 

 three quarters? Yea. 



5957. At 80s. a quarter what would that mean? 

 I do not suggest we are going to get another year 

 like this again. 



5958. But you have one example which is very much 

 above the average and which would rather wc.ght 

 the balance in favour of the average of your district 

 as far as it goes? Yes. 



5959. What allowance do you make for the straw 

 yield per acre 3? No, I have not worked out the 

 cost per quarter. 



5960. The cost shows a rather serious loss on your 

 figures so that the 80s. would be the rock bottom 

 guarantee according to your figures? Yes. 



5961. Do you think' it would have the effect of 

 keeping that land in cultivation? I think it might 

 just do so, but :<s I said to start with, I have no 

 very great faith in the 80s. 



5962. Have you any figures in which you have 

 greater faith? I do not think I have with regard to 

 these guarantees of prices. . 



5963. You do not believe much in guarantees, do 

 you? No, I am not a great believer in guarantees. 



5064. As far as your first account is concerned I see 

 you debit the farm with two years' rent for fallow? 

 Yee. 



6965. Is that quite fair? Yea, I think so. 



5966. You do not spread it over? No. 



5967. ~Mr. Prouer Jones :' I think you have put in 

 one of your tables showing a yield of two quarters 

 to the acre? Yes. 



6968. Would not a yield of that kind supgest that 

 the land would be quite unsuitable for corn growing? 

 No, not in nine caes out of ten. 



6969. You think that this Innd could he made to 

 yield more? Certainly. The low yield in the case of 



this particular land has been simply because of the 

 phenomenal season we have had this year. 



5970. I see in your Table No. 2 you do not put 

 anything in for artificial manure or otherwise? 

 That is rye. 



5971. Yes? No, there is no artificial there. 



5972. Is that the reason why the yield is so low? 

 Yes. I do not consider that this piece was done as 

 well as it should have 'been done. 



5973. Does not that suggest that land for this pur- 

 pose should be graded? I should be very sorry to 

 have to do it. 



5974. Why ? I think grading land would be almost 

 an impossibility. 



5975. Do you know that during the last two years 

 quite a large area of land was compelled to be 

 ploughed which was quite unsuitable? Yes. 



5976. Do you know that if that land had been 

 graded is would never have been ploughed at all? 

 ] reported on about 35,000 acres and I certainly 

 reported that a great deal should not be ploughed 

 which eventually was ploughed. 



5977. I think you suggested that 80s. a quarter 

 would be a reasonable guarantee? I am inclined to 

 think that the farmers will try and grow wheat 

 for 80s. 



5978. Did you not tell us in your evidence that 

 farmers were going back to grass farming even with 

 a price of wheat to-day which is above that? Yes, 

 to-day, but they do not think it is going to be so 

 next year. 



5979. Why not continue while it lasts? Because 

 you cannot change from one to the other quickly ; 

 farmers think that they are going back to the prices 

 under the Corn Production Act. 



5980. Is it likely with conditions as they are in 

 foreign countries that we shall have keen competition 

 for two or three years four or five years perhaps? 

 I understand from friends in the States that they are 

 likely to get an enormous quantity of shipping on the 

 seas within twelve months and if the Yankees do 

 what they expect to do, and what they say they are 

 going to do, 1 think we are going to get prices tumb- 

 ling down very fast. 



5981. Is it not the fact that the populations are 

 increasing so fast in those countries that have been 

 exporting wheat to us that they are likely to require 

 all they produce for their own home consumption ?- 

 The United States will probably export less but the 

 population of Canada is not increasing to such an 

 extent at present that the home consumption will 

 overtake their production. There is also an enormous 

 supply in Australia awaiting shipment and the same 

 in the Argentine. As you probably know they have 

 been burning both wheat and maize in the Argentine 

 for fuel on their railways. 



5982. Did you say there wag a shortage of labour 

 in your district? There has been a very great 

 shortage. 



5983. Would that be owing to the low rate paid? 

 Tthink it was owing to the war; there was a shortage 

 everywhere. 



5984. How are things now? The position is that 

 the farmer is firmly convinced that he cannot pay 

 the rate of wage which he has got to pay and he is 

 generally dissatisfied. Whether he can pay it or 

 whether he cannot is another matter. 



5985. Does that mean that 1 they do not pay any- 

 thing over and above the actual minimum? No. I 

 think that the better class farmer who is doing well 

 pays considerably above the minimum, and gets the 

 better type of labourer. The other farmers who stick 

 to the minimum of course get the dregs. 



5986. Have you found a tendency in your younger 

 men to leave the farms and to seek employment in 

 other industries where the wages are better? TJp to 

 the beginning of the war there was a very great 

 tendency in that direction. 



5987. Is the tendency now that higher wages are 

 being paid for them to come back? No, 1 do not 

 think so. I think that the younger men are not 

 tending to go so much, but I do not think that there 

 is any very large number of men coming back other 

 than those who were agriculturists in pre-war days. 



