MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



2 September, 1919.] 



MR. R. COLTON Fox. 



[Continued. 



Remuneration of Labour. 



7133. (5) The industry differs from any other by 

 reason of our inability to pass on to the consumer the 

 added cost of production, since the price of our pro- 

 duce is normally ruled by the world's market. It is 

 therefore clear that if in two years' time the world 

 price of cereals so falls that the British farmer finds 

 his wages bill exceeding his corn receipts, his position 

 will become intolerable, the home-grown food supply 

 will shrink at least one-half, and the workers will be 

 driven to unemployment, the towns or the colonies. 



If the present high scale of wages maintains it will 

 not be feasible to bolster up agriculture either by a 

 tariff or a subsidy; the former remedy can never bo 

 sufficiently high, while I consider the latter so in- 

 vidious that its existence would only be short. 



The solution seems to lie in the basing of wages on 

 the current corn prices, and doubtless such a method 

 has already been suggested. By this system agricul- 

 ture would more nearly approach other industries, in 

 that the consumer would have to bear his share of tin- 

 cost of production, and labour would be prevented 

 from unreasonably demanding periodically increased 

 wages. For regular workmen the harvest wage might 

 be abolished, being replaced by equitable prices for 

 piece-work, thus stimulating increased activity at an 

 anxious time and producing in the worker a* feeling 

 that he has a personal interest in the harvest. 



Hours of Labour. 



7131. (C) Previous to the existence of the Wages 

 Board, our men labourers worked from 7 a.m. to o 

 p.m. six days a week, resulting in a 5-1 hours' week ; 

 considering the time spent in going to and from their 

 work, and also the many days lost through wet weather, 

 these hours were not excessive. In the winter of 1914 

 horses were four weeks idle at a stretch, and the time 

 lost had to be made up. Agriculture work does not 

 prematurely age a man, nor does it entail the strain 

 produced in the steel and mining industries. I am 

 not in favour of the Saturday half-holiday, because a 

 farmer is never on top of his work, and, though he 

 may offer his men work during those hours, it has been 

 my experience that some of them prefer to lounge jn 

 the town, which is good neither for their pockets nor 

 their health. The proposal to abolish the " cus- 

 tomary " hours for horsemen is absolutely unwork- 

 able. 



Firstly, it would be unfair to charge overtime rates 

 for labour which is essential to the working of a farm : 

 secondly, the employer would be harassed by addi- 

 tional supervision of his men and the booking of hours 

 actually spent in overtime; and, thirdly, it would 

 destroy the interest of the attendant for his stock. 

 since some men object to overtime if they can earn 

 enough without it. I am, therefore, in favour of 51 

 hours per week, stock attendants to receive a fixed 

 additional remuneration. 



(This concludes the cvidence-in-chief.) 



Chairman : Then I will ask Mr. Edwards to begin 

 the questions. 



7185. Mr. Edwards : You are a fanner yourself, are 

 you not? Yes. 



7136. What is the acreage of your farm? 285 

 acres. 



7 1. '17. You say in paragraph 2 of your precis, that 

 fallowing is not practised in your district? That is 

 o; but I have an estimate for what I used to fallow 

 on my previous farm, and I based that estimate on 

 the usual routine for prices next year for an acre of 

 wheat. I forgot to send that up, and perhaps I ought 

 to have done so. I have worked that out on the 

 fallowing. 



7138. Then fallowing was practised in the district 

 where you farmed previously ? Yes, it was. 



7]:a. And it is not in this district? No. 



7140. In view of the fact that fallowing naturally 

 increases the cost of the corn crop, do you think that 

 fallowing is necessary in any part of the country? 

 Yes, I do, for some things. There are certain lands 

 that you cannot get right for autumn sowing the 

 same year that you take your crop, the previous crop, 

 off. In the strong lands in Yorkshire, and I know 

 the Trent Valley in Nottinghamshire, the custom is 

 very usual for wheat. 



MM 



7141. But do you think it is not possible to culti- 

 vate the land with some previous crop, in order to do 

 away with a year's waste as it were? I should cer- 

 tainly favour a green crop and eat off; and plough 

 in what they do not eat, like mustard. I do not 

 believe in having bare fallow if you can possibly avoid 

 it. 



7142. Is it possible to avoid it? We have some 

 hundreds of acres in this country with a bare fallow? 

 Personally I always try to. 



7143. And you think even in the district where it 

 is followed now, it is practicable? In a favourable 

 year it is. 



7144. Throughout your memorandum you seem to 

 suggest that the average prices should cover, not only 

 the play of the market and the importation of corn, 

 but even the bad seasons. I should like to have that 

 further developed. It is very interesting as I am 

 a farmer myself? I think the question is very hard 

 to answer because we stand so much risk, in a bad 

 season like this season where you get hardly your ex- 

 penses back. Now if the play of the market does not 

 cover your risk, farming is no good. You cannot 

 guarantee that your yield is going to be a certain 

 amount, and however hard you try it is possible that 

 the season will ruin you. If the price of your pro- 

 duce cannot cover that risk, there is no incentive to 

 farm. 



7145. Yes : but you recognise, I presume, that this 

 is an entirely new principle in our farming. We have 

 so far in this country farmed without a guarantee as 

 to the play of the markets or the season? Yes, we 

 have; and we have stood some bad years on that. 

 Personally, as I say in my statement, I do not 

 believe in fixing a price. 



7146. But you do believe in a guaranteed price 

 even against the play of the market and also the bad 

 seasons? If the idea is to guarantee the price, I say 

 the price should be so guaranteed to cover the risk ; 

 but it is a procedure that I do not favour. I say 

 that the wages should be based on the current prices 

 of corn. 



7147. And do away with all guarantees? Do away 

 with all guarantees. 



7148. Do you think that wages is the only item in 

 farming that should be regulated according to the 

 price of the stuff we grow? It depends whether the 

 prices for our commodities which wo use are going to 

 keep at the present level. 



7149. What about the rents; would you agree that 

 the rents should also be made to slide according to the 

 price of the produce? No, because I think the present 

 rents are generally fair. 



7150. Assuming now the prices will go down, accord- 

 ing to your argument you would be in favour of the 

 wages sliding down? Yes, because our industry is 

 different from anything else. I take it the price of 

 food will bo the first thing to drop, before the price 

 of steel or anything else. 



7151. But what aboyt the rents? Would not you 

 favour the rents dropping down on a similar scale? 

 I cannot say that I would. 



7162. Why differentiate between the wages and the 

 rents? Because it is the interest on the landlord's 

 capital. 



7153. It is the interest on the workman's capital 

 too. His only capital is his labour? Yes, that is so. 

 I quite see your point; but that is a hard thing to 

 answer. 



7154. Mr. Duncan: Which Riding of Yorkshire is 

 your farm in? The East Riding. 



7 1 ">'). Have you thought out any scheme for relating 

 wages to prices ? No, I have not ; because, to tell you 

 the truth, I have not had the time to do it, and I am 

 not sufficiently clever. 



7156. Mr. Cautley : Which part of East Riding is 

 your farm in? It is 4 miles from Malton, and 16 

 miles from York. 



7157. It is Wold land, is it? Some of it is, am. 

 some of it is clay land. 



7155. How far from Driflield is it? I cannot tell 

 you quite, but about 10 miles. 



7159. Driffield is the centre of the Wolds? Yes, 

 it is. 



E 4 



