MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



11 



26 August, 1919.] 



MR. ALBERT BUCKLE. 



[Continued. 



5292. What becomes of those who were short of 

 capital? In many cases they are having to turn out 

 when the farms have been sold over their heads. 



5293. Is that the case? That there are farmers iu 

 your district whose farms are sold over thoir heads? 

 Yes, undoubtedly. There; is one on the next farm to 

 myself. 



5294. Who failed to purchase his farm? Yes. 



5295. Did he try to do it? I do not think so. 



5296. Was it offered by public auction? Yes. 

 5207. In the case of a farmer who does buy his land, 



has he any claim whatever for compensation under 

 the Agricultural Holdings Act? I should say he will 

 against his landlord. It is a point I have not con- 

 sidered ; but I think he ought to have. 



5298. But does he? That is the point. I ask that 

 question because it was asked at the last meeting 

 of this Commission ; and the answer given was to the 

 effect that he had. Assuming you buy your own 

 farm now, you have, of course, improved it greatly. 

 no doubt ? I hope so ; but it is not for me to say. 



5299. But assuming 'you buy your farm, do you 

 say that you would have' a claim against the vendor 

 of the farm for any compensation for the improve- 

 ment you made? 1 suppose it would be according 

 to the conditions of sale, would not it? I mean, if 

 the place was sold and I did not buy it, I should have 

 a claim against the purchaser. 



5300. That is the point. Therefore, if you bought 

 your own farm, your claim would be against your, 

 self? It almost appears so. 



5301. Mr. Green: Are yon in a position to give us 

 a balance sheet of your farm? --No. I am afinid T 

 cannot do that. 



."(.Mi 12. Would any of the members of your Com 

 tnitteo bo in a position to give us a balance sheet 

 of their farms? I do not think so. 



5.303. You say that in spite of paying more than the 

 minimum wage, most farmers have been making on 

 an average about 30s. an acre? I do not say they 

 are now. I said that I did not think farmers'would 

 make any profit this year, or very little. 



5304. Would you agree that no guarantee was 

 necessary to stimulate farmers to grow wheat on good 

 laud? A farmer is piling to grow what suits his 

 land best arid what is paying best. At the present 

 time I think barley is the best paying crop. 



53115. Do you think we could have any price high 

 enough to stimulate farmers to grow wheat on poor 

 land:- I think so. Poor land is only suitable for 

 wheat growing either that or grass.' If it would 

 not grow wheat, it would not grow anything. 



5300. With reference to paragraph 2 of your 

 precis, could not the small farmer in England imitate 

 the small farmer in Ireland, and by en opcraf ion take 

 every advantage of up-to-date machinery? There 

 are not very many really small farmers in our dis 

 trict; and I think most of them have self-binders and 

 so forth, up-to-date machinery. 



530". With regard to the half-holiday, are you 

 aware that one of the Hoard's investigators reported 

 that the lack of the half-holiday was a hay seed in the 

 shirt of the labourer? I do not follow that. 



5308. I think he was very graphic; but it means 

 the lack of the half holiday is the thing that has 



made the labourer very discontented in the past? I 



do not think so. 



5309. With regard to dairying, have not the hours 

 many cowmen have had to work, that is to sav, on 

 365 days a year, made their lives indistinguishable 

 from servitude? Certainly ; as 1 have already sai'l 

 in my remarks, I think it is ono of the most arduous 

 hranches of farming, whether it is carried on by the 

 farmer and his family or by hired labour. 



5310. Then unless yoir make the conditions fairly 

 good for the cowmen, you are not likely to get many 

 cowmen? That is so ; 'l quite agree. 



5311. Then do not you think the half-holiday and 

 shorter hours will make it easier for farmers to pro- 

 duce milk than it has been in the past? But who is 

 to do the work when be lias his half-holiday? That 

 is the difficulty. We quit.' approve of his having bis 

 half-holiday; hut who is o do the work? 



5312. That will have to be divided amongst the rest, 

 as von do it now? That means horses standing in 

 many instances. 



5313. With referenceo to paragraph 5 of your precis, 

 is not dairy farming after all the safest and most 

 profitable line of farming, (though perhaps the most 

 exacting that the small farmer can undertake? Of 

 course, it depends now on the prices that are fixed 

 We have had prices fixed which we contend are wholly 

 inadequate to meet the costs of production in one or 

 two cases; for instance, in the month of June this 

 year. 



5314. I put it to you, would not the small farmer 

 prefer any day to rent a grass farm and keep a few 

 cows, to occupying a market garden of similar capital 

 value? Are not there less fluctuations in the market 

 price of milk than ithat of vegetables and fruit? It 

 may be so. That depends on those who fix the prices 

 of food. 



5315. Perhaps it will surprise you to learn that I 

 know of a dairy farmer with 100 acres, who last year 

 confessed he had made 500 profit? He was possibly 

 doing all the work with his own family, and not pay- 

 ing them the minimum wage. 



5316. No. he kept several men. Do you agree with 

 me that in districts where there is a heavy rainfall, 

 dairy farmers would improve their economic condi- 

 tion by farming on a system known as continuous crop- 

 ping? What do you mean by continuous cropping? 

 Is that on arable land? 



5317. Yes; where the rainfall is high, as in Ireland 

 and on the West Coast of England. I do not know 

 whether your rainfall is about the average? Yes. it 

 is about the average. 



5318. Do not you think they would do letter with 

 that system ? You see there are fodder crops for the 

 co\\sr' I know what you mean. That also means a lot 

 more labour, and that is what we arc short of. 



5319. Yes; but do not you think you would make 

 more profit on the whole on the farm? But if you 

 cannot get the labour, you cannot get it done. 



5320. Why do you object to the milking machine? 

 Have you quite a modern one? Yes, I think so. I 

 have the " A mo." The reason is this. To begin with, 

 there are cows who do not- take to it, and will never 



their milk to it. and they very soon go dry. 

 Then again we have had some very small breakages, 

 and there is a difficulty in getting parts. I called on 

 the company this morning, and asked them if they 

 did not keep the parts. I wrote to them for one or 

 two simple things, and it took me six weeks to get 

 them. They said they did not keep them, and had to 

 semi to Sweden for them. That is our difficulty. I 

 know our neighbours who had milking machines had 

 the same difficulty, although they were English makes. 

 They cannot get the parts. 



5321. Supposing a great many farms are going down 

 to grass, a.s T believe you said they were, what are the 

 farmers doing with their grass? -They are going in 

 for stock raising. 



5322. I do not quite understand your paragraph 

 here on the vexed question of manure. I am sorry to 

 have to stress the point again ; but in paragraph 9 you 

 have C12 Is. Cd. as the cost of manure. Do vou charge 

 tin' whole of the cost of that to potatoes? No ; a third 

 is charged to the succeeding crop. 



5323. Under the cost of one acre of potatoes, the 

 cost of the farmyard manure at 10s. is 10, and super- 

 phosphates and sowing 1 3s. 6d.. and sulphate 18s., 

 making 12 Is. 6d. Then I see you add on a third 

 to the succeeding crop'of wheat. 4. That altogether 

 makes 16 for the two crops, although after all vou 

 have only expended 12. Is that not so? No, T 

 deducted the 4 for the potatoes. 



5324. Yes ; but you have made a total charge of 16 

 on the two crops, whereas the total expenditure on 

 manures is only 12? I have not. 12 was manure 

 applied to the potato crop. I only charged 8 to the 

 potatoes and 4 to the succeeding crop. 



5325. I thought you had charged 12 to the 

 |K>tatoes ? No. 



5326. But you have added up those items to 40 

 4s. 3d.? Yes; but I put a note at the bottom that 

 a third of the manure was to go to the succeeding 

 crop. 



