8 



tlRSION OK M, UK i i.TURK. 



H A ;,-. 191 



MB. ALBEIT BDCKI.C. 



[Continued. 



my contention that this continued control is driring 

 ~ ' i oat of the busir 



6190. 1 agree. Is uot the real fault of the control 

 f may grumble al iho |>ricc, of course that it is 

 always put on too late -the prices are fixed too late? 



Yea, 1 havo already said ao. 



5191. 1* it poaaiblo, with prices for the winter nl\ 

 juit now fixed I think last week to arrange our 

 OOWB ao that there will be either a larger or lew supply 

 of milk this winter!- It is uot possible. 



5193. Hare you considered at all whether a 

 guarantee of cheese prices would do anything to 

 tabiltie the milk supply? I have not ooBaiaend that 

 point. I know very little about cheese making. 



6193. Do not they make cheese in Cleveland P I 

 think there is a little made up in the Dales perhaps. 



6194. Did the Dale farmers make butter only and 

 rear calves? They make a great deal of cheese up 

 h- i. 



5196. If there was a guarantee on cheese in thr 

 summer and they were to sell milk in the winter, would 

 not these keep the calves at the same time? Yes, it 

 certainly would assist. 



6196. And would not that benefit the hill tanner* 

 a great deal? I should think so; they would pet their 

 calves reared in the summer. 



6197. They would get their calves reared and their 

 cheese marketed in the summer, and they could sell 



milk in the winter? Yes. 



5196. Your Chamber has not considered whether 

 that is possible?- No. that has not been considered. 



5199. Has your Chamber considered whether it is at 

 all possible to fix a guarantee for corrals on a sliding 

 scale, as to the cost of wages or the cost of other com- 

 modities at all? That has not been considered. 



.Vjm. And you could not give any opinion as to 

 whether such a thing is feasible now?- 1 have thought 

 of the matter, and I think there should be some rela- 

 tion between them. 



5901. Might I suggest you should put that before 

 your Chamber when you go back, and that they should 

 ..n-idor it. I have one more point to put to you. It 

 has generally been agreed by witnesses here that a 

 guarantee to be really effective and beneficial to 

 Agriculture, ought to be for a series of years. Do 

 you fall in w ith that? Yes, I do. I think for 5 years. 



5302. Suppose such a thing were to be done, you will 



ee the Government have no control over other prices. 



They have no control over the coat of anything that a 



farmer has to buy, or of labour; BO that would not 



to be some provision for alteration or recti- 



ii- It would be very difficult to arrive at n 



IIM ! j.rn e for 7 or 8 years, or even 6 years, with' all 



the other element* in the cost of production varying? 



> e, that is so. 



6908. And if some scheme of variation according to 

 the other main elenn nt- which constitute the co-t of 

 product -on were adopted, it would be more likely to 

 be a workable plan, would not it? Yes. I do think M>. 

 We have discuMed this matter, not at the Chamber 

 but amongst my friends. 



520-1. Kut \.ni have no suggestion to make? No, 

 1 have not at the present time. 



I'lmiiinnti . Then you will communicate with as 

 perhaps? 



6906. Mr. I'nullrtr. If you would bring that sugges- 

 tion as to whether any plan for n sliding scale could 

 be made and agreed to by practical people, as the 

 Chairman Buggmtts, your Chamber might communi- 

 cate again with tin- Secretaries of the ComnHssi- 

 T *h*ll he- v.-rv glad to do that. 



S9TW Mr. li,, II,,,: You stated that in order to keep 

 the land in cultivation, you suggested there should be 

 a guarantee O f 7(K ? Yes. 



52O7. Are you aware that large numbers of farmer-. 

 are not keeping their land in cultivation but letting 

 it go down to irra-s- I think to a great extent that 

 ban been o in hortage of labour. 



">3f~. You think it i- dii" to shortage of ln)tour. and 

 that if thcv had plentv of labour, they would n 

 i)i*t' I do mil think they would. I moan these 

 shorter Hour- are having a very great effect. Farmer* 

 find they cannot p<-t the work done. 



' I <lo not wimt to i.ioi'i-.- tin- tun things; I 

 will deal with that later lint you suggest it in due 

 to the nhorUge of labour ' 



6210. Would you be surprised if I were to tell you 

 that in many district* where farmers are laying their 

 land down to grass, instead of labour being short it is 

 plentiful and they are dispensing with the labour : 

 That is not so in our district. You cannot get labour 

 in our >li ' 



1 . Of course we have to deal w ith the whole 

 country? Yea, but I can only speak for my own 

 district. 



."j-l-J. The labour is actually short there? Yea, un- 

 doubtedly. 



"_'!:(. You would agree that if the farmer is to have 

 guarantees for the produce that he sells, the people 

 who supply him, say. with tractors, harness, feeding 

 I.M-. and artificial manures, should also be subsidised 

 and given a guarantee by the Government? I think 

 that would be almost impossible. 



0214. So thai your idea u> that the farmer should 

 have a free market for what he buys and a protected 

 market for what he sells? I only think it is in the 

 interests of the nation that they should be guaranteed 

 the price of wheat. 



5. But do not you think that the man who is 

 producing the feeding stuffs, the artificial manures, 

 and the tractors, would also say that it was in the 

 interests of the nation that he should be protected 

 and guaranteed the prices for what he produces? 

 The feeding stuffs are not produced in this country, 

 and I think we want to buy as cheaply as we can 

 when we are buying from abroad. 



5216. That is my point. You want to buy at 

 cheaply as you can and .sell as dearly as you 01 

 That is our point. 1 havo always tried to do that. 



5217. You understand, of course, that the com- 

 munity will suffer for that? I do not think so at all. 

 I think it is bettor to have wheat at 70s. a quarter 

 than to have none at all. 



5218. You do not anticipate we will have none at 

 all, do your 1 mean a shortage then. I will put <it 

 that way. 



5219. With reference to your lalmur you said, in 

 answer to Mr. Cautluy. that this istim.ii>' nt 7'K. was 

 made on the basis that .,.;.- remained as they I 

 Yes. 



5220. But in your ev-idence-in-chiof, you stated ithat 

 it is given with the prevailing and ever-increasing 

 high wages. How do you reconcile those two state- 

 ments? I do not quite follow yon. 



5221. You arc making an allowance for an increase 

 even in the present wages? If the wages went up. I 

 suppose the prices would go up. That was my idea.' 



B899. No. not in accordance with you cvidcnco-in- 

 i hid : that tlie 70s. is given with an allowance for 

 ever-increasing high wages. You have made allow- 

 ance for that? Yes; I took it on the basis of wages 

 nt the present time, anyhow. 



522.'). With reference to your labour, you made a 



f ient in answer to one of the Obauniamonera, that 



owing to the Orders of the Wages Board you got them 



about every three weeks? No, I do not think I .sai<l 



every three weeks. 



5224. I thought you did: but you meant they were 

 .ilway.s Inn i. anyhow!' Ye*, that is so. 



6225. Would y-'ii lie surprised if I told you that only 

 three times in the course of two yeais h:n,- the Wage* 

 Hoard fixed your wages in Yorkshire:- I thought tlu> 

 had been altered more times than that. 



Three times only. You wen .saving that you 

 could not get I lie men to do the work, anil you had to 

 get women!- That is dairying work. 



.VJ-J7. You -.aid because of the half-holiday. 1 w a- 

 iite dear in my mind; but it seemed to me you 

 said that because the. men got a half-holiday, you 

 could not get them to work. Is that it? The |>oint. 

 waa this. I wax speaking of tho dairying branch of 

 farming. You have your horso work. They ha\e 

 nothing to do but. turn the horses out, say, at Saturday 

 dinner-time, and need not go back fill the Monday 

 morning. Our stockman or cowman has to lie 

 the whole of the week-end; and they will not do it. 

 It is not reuKonable. T would not do if. T would go 

 and l>e a horseman. 



- Rut if those nun are (here, they are getting 

 overtime Kites? They do not want, it : th' v art. get- 

 ting plenty without. 



