1919.] 



IMYAI. CiiMMlSSliiN i>N .UiKK'UI.Tl Kl . 

 MK. THOMAS . <;<<, i,\\ is 



0009. But bow do you know you have not allowed 

 anything for depreciation if you do not know how 

 much you havo charged per horse? Tho man's wages 

 Mould be 8s. to start with. 



6670. Mr. i nuthy: If ho only does half 1111 acre it 

 would be IGs.? Yes, it would bo llis. to the acre t- 

 start with, and then it does not leave you a great 

 deal for *ho horse. 



6671. Mr. Athby: But you have not really cal- 

 culated what was the cost of the horse? I think it is 

 :t \<-ry low estimate of 30s. per acre. 



6672. But you did not do it carefully in any <,,~. . 

 whether it is low or high:' Not linking them sepa- 

 rately. 



6673. Take the next item, harrowing twice. How 

 many acres a day would you do on that;' -Every- 

 thing depends on the harrowing und the condition of 

 it. JL'OII can got heavy harrowing and light harrow 

 ing. It is so difficult ito anyone who understands 

 the position. 



6674. It is also difficult under those circumstances 

 to state the cost. If you do not know the amount <>1 

 work done, how can you state the cost? We know 

 the amount that we expect to be done. We expect 

 a certain amount of work, knowing the conditions of 

 the work. 



6675. That is what I am asking for the amount you 

 would expect to be done. How much harrowing per 

 day would you expect to get done? Taking it on 

 the average we might get 6 or 8 acres. 



6676. Shall we say 7 acres, which is 26s. 3d. a day :- 

 It would be 3s. 9d. per acre, not 7s. 6d., so that 



would be 36s. 



6677. 26s. for two horses and a man? Yes. 



6678. Yet up above you only charge for ploughing 

 15s. for two horses and a man? No. As I said he 

 would plough over half an acre, but so much depends 

 upon your ploughman. Some ploughmen will do very 

 much more than others. 



6679. Then will you look at manure, 20 tons at 

 15s. Is that the value of the dung, or does that 

 include the value of the straw? That is the value of 

 the dung as it is. 



6680. Have you compared that on any comparative 

 basis with the market price? I<t is quite a low esti- 

 mate of the market value. 



6681. You can sell it at that price? You can sell 

 it at more; plenty of farmers have paid 20s. a ton 

 for manure this last season for their potatoes. 



6682. I notice you have 2 for dung spreading 

 and 2 for artificials. How much credit do you leave 

 for unexhausted value after you have finished with 

 the potatoes? Very often valuers will allow half the 

 manures on the next year ; but you see when we grow 

 a crop of corn probably part of the field has been 

 potatoes, part mangolds and part swedes, and the 

 manurial residue of swedes would perhaps not bo as 

 great aa on the others M> wo have simply taken it 

 a* an estimate, and rather a low one. 



6683. When you have manures to the value of about 

 90 10s., you have a considerable sum? If we had 

 taken the manurial residue on the basis that a valuer 

 ..uM havo taken it, it would have increased the cost 

 further than is stated in these particulars. 



6684. On the potato crop?_It would have in- 

 creaaed the cost on the <orn, because that would go 

 i.. the corn. You get corn after that potato crop. 



6685. I admit that; but it would certainly reduce 

 this figure? Yes. You are' quite entitled to deduct 



the cost of the potatoes what you put on to your 



8. In the case of growing mangolds. No. Hi. i 

 the estimate of the manurial residue then- baaed on 



^SJ r V*' U<lr8 ' bM ' B? - x<) - il '" not so high. 



i have carried these raanurial residues 

 -ii. 1, n* you have allowed, to the cost of cropping 

 cereals P Ye. 



6688. Mr. 7M,;,r!or: Dealing with your cost of 

 potatoes, do you spray your |M,tal<K-s? No, I have not 

 v>; but many farmer* do spray their potatoes 

 and that would add to the cost. Of course that is tin- 

 up-to-date method. 



6680. Y..U are aware tho4 in the Corn Produ.-iion 

 Art thp rereaU dealt with are wheat and ,,ais. an, I 



tn.il in tin- temporal y g.iaiantee given for 1919 there 

 has also been added barley Yes. 



6690. Is it only in regard to those three crops that 

 you suggest there ahould be a guarantee given; or 

 do you suggest, as 1 rather think you did in answer 

 : Mi Thomas Henderson, that nil crops should have 

 a minimum guarantee;" Did voii mean tliatr -No, 1 

 did not mean to suggest that. 

 1. Duly cereab?- 1 



liODL'. Mr. Ufi iiunit -. Air. Ashhy hat> taken you 

 through your course ol growing ufiout; but there is 

 one item on No. ."> which you begin with " ( leaning 

 htubblos " ; does that Cultivation.- It i.- 



nocessary to clean that stubble for wheat. That is 

 grown, as 1 state here, on land ploughed up during 

 tin wr turf; and it is necessary for tho benotit <>! 

 the (Topping and the yield that that land should be 

 (leaned. 



()<>!>:}. But what form did it take? Tho laud was 

 ploughed with the ordinary plough skimped, and then 

 worked through all the course with the different 

 implements, and then reploughed for wheat. We 

 have had some very serious failures in our district 

 through land not being properly dealt with in that 

 way, and being ploughed up just one furrow. 



6694. I quite agree with you ; but that -torn appears 

 to me to be very low just as ploughing, because it 

 includes ploughing and no doubt several harrowings. 



Y\ o ploughed with the double ploughs, and that 

 would make a little difference, whereas we could not 

 plough with the double furrow ploughs not one 

 furrow. 



6695. Then, your weeding is again Is. Is that 

 simply stubbing the thistles? Yes, docks, or any- 

 thing there is. 



6696. Have you ever looked into the cost of your 

 weeding to see whether you could got a man u> walk 

 over, say, eight acres a day? Yes, I think we can 

 do that. I mean if the land is properly cultivated, 

 that lessens the cost of weeding. On the land which 

 is not properly cultivated, it would cost a great deal 

 more. 



6C97. Your land is more suitable to growing wheat 

 than growing oats, is not it? Yes, very much more. 



669?. You do not grow very heavy crops of oats? 

 No. 



6699. What would you average? The average is 

 rather low. I am afraid five quarters would t>e a 

 fairly good average. 



6700. What is the tonnage of potatoes that you 

 generally grow per acre? You mean the average? 



(i"()l . Yes- It is a good crop, 10 tons to the acre'. 

 \Ve .should nut get that average. 



.Ifr. llr<i : You mentioned that tho Co-operative 

 \Yholosale Society were taking over a good many of 

 the farms? Yes. 



6702. Are they working these individual farms, 

 or havo they taken blocks of land and throw n 'hem 

 together!- They havo Ixwght a number of farms 

 together. 



6703. Do they work them as one hie, industrial 

 farm, or do they still keep the farms working 

 separately? Some of the farms have managers. 

 They have a malinger at tlu ir largest farm, and he 

 is really responiblo for the whole of the working. 

 Then he has managers at the other farms under him. 



6704. To what extent of land about have they taken 

 up in one block? Alwut 1.000 a. 



6705. That is about the largest of the blocks they 

 have taken? Yes. in a block. 



ii7(Mi. Thai comprises .several farms;" --Yes. 



(1707. Do they work it as one, or do they still keep 

 tin- individual 'farms?- I think they work the farm* 

 indiv dually, but there is one head over the whole. 



>:7o-i. They do not /xvoperate; they do not earn- 

 out their own system lus regards the farms, and co- 

 iperato as to the uso of machinery, and so on? Xo 



6709. You say that you have hopes of the extension 

 of co-operation among farmers? Y. 



6710. ^\'ill you develop thai, a little and say whnt 

 lines they could do it on P You see there is a strong 

 movement ; n starting milk factories for one thing; 

 and then I think thoy could do very good work in 

 starting wholesale slaughter houses among (hi 

 farmers themselves. 



