ro 



U"VAI. < ...MMIxsli.N MS AGKUI I.TI ICK. 





MR. B. COLTON Fox. 



[Continued. 



i a groat fear in that country that 

 great part ol the land will have to go back to sheep 

 I it 119, i- I lieu not,.' \us. 



.101. Is that duo to the increased cost of < 

 thing that a larmer has to buy and pay for in the 



. s, tanning implements, feeding 

 uiui ..:_. ;n. ngr Yea. 



~ ."should I be right in saying that unless some 

 rehel i> given to the farmers, a great part of the 

 h.nd in ihis Wold district of the Kust. Hiding of 



.-I..I. will go back? Ye*. 



,'ltxi Heally to grass, and pr.uiiially a shivp vvulk.- 

 . see it is not suitable lor feeding, oven il it 

 went down to grass again, for cattle; but it will be 

 sheen runs. 



.lo-l. Simply sheep runs? Yea. 

 .loo. ion nave suggested that wages should be 

 baaed on the current prices of corn. We have in, .i 

 that in the past, have we not? Up to the time of the 

 Production Act, wages have been fixed by the 

 law of supply and demand as between the farmer and 

 the man? Yes. 



. loO. Hut would not you agree with me that that 

 .,i has not been satisfactory so far as agriculture 

 ..erned:- No, it was not satisfactory to the man, 

 uul it was the best the farmer could do. 



7107. Exactly. Was this the fact: that he was 

 subjected to free imports, and had the market for his 

 produce fixed by the world prices, on which his pro- 

 iim-e had no influence? Yes. 



- Was the result of that that the workman's 

 wages were driven down to a bare starvation point? 

 Yes. 



7169. You do not want to go back to that, do you? 

 No. I do not. But my meaning is this, that if you 

 are going to favour agriculture at what the public 

 think an undue amount, it will not do us any good. 



7170. That is true; but let us look at the interests 

 of agriculture for a moment. If you are satisfied. 



_atlier you are, and you agree with me that the 

 old svsiem has failed, what reason is there to believe 

 that it will succeed now? My idea has always been 

 it is not worth very much that I do not think you 

 will make this country a corn-growing country. I 

 have always favoured a system of elevators; and if 

 the climate will stand it, 1 think it would be cheaper 

 in the long run to store our supply of corn if it can 

 M done. 



7171. That is going rather from the point, if I may 

 ao. There is one question I ought to have asked 



the beginning. Are you giving evidence here 



ag. Are you giving evidence here 

 on y.mr own behalf, or on behalf of any Agri- 

 cultural Society or Association ?_I am in this posi- 

 Our Secretary rang me up a fortnight ago 

 day, and asked me to appear. As I am working 

 1 hours a day, I refused it. Then he wrote to me 

 said that the Yorkshire Farmers' Union of Clubs 

 had not a single member who apparently had the 

 courage to come here; and when he put it like that 

 said, \Vell, I have no evidence, and nobody to 

 give mo any figures at all." J have had to work 



to try and get something out. I t the 



la*t week at York, and they asked me to 

 lepresent them if I could. 



Who do you mean l, v "our secretary " P 

 Mr. sou I by, at Malt.,,i 



I know the gentleman, but not the name of 

 he ,s secretary of?-The Yorkshire I'mon 

 Agricultural Club*, not the Karmers' I'nion 

 '"_'' 'uhs in our body. 



Yoi ir ' '""' V " U '"" ""' '"'"' "' ''"'''' "''''" 



>. Hut I gather from what you say. that the 



ii put forward arc your own fig'ui. 

 Barwg g'.t M> fur that id,, late sv-tem of 

 ;mg wag,, by tl,e ! ,,f M1 ppl v ,,,, ,|,., ll;1I1 d has not 

 >t that !. imp), 



lhatwonre to have ,. , l,ai,g,-- > , . | ,_,,,... u ,,|, V((M 

 ( "" vli-iii. ,- t ; tor the 



al you IH-IICVC or ant impute that farm- 

 "il their industry with 

 il mid the ;,,-t ,,l,, the, 

 1 



ih.it unlew n farmer . 



he is far mini: at a low.. 

 '" ' ; '(" .111 impoHHible 



.; in your d 1 should say that the 



n 1 to 4$. 



. I . ,H wheat or o.its. or \ 



i aking it all round. 



-iH.ij. I am speaking ot wheat? 1 

 Mould my on a small holding ot 30 acres last year, 

 iii..-l,, il , (juarlers an acre on 6 acres. 



. 1 am speaking of the average)* 4 to 44 

 ijuai 



. 11 -., in.-; lung is to be done to enable the 

 i. .iiner to .any on his industry at a profit and it 

 uoiild not he i ai ried on except under those conditions 

 have MIII iiny suggestion to make to thirt Coin mi- 

 -. what ought to be done? The only thing 

 is to fix prices. 



7183. Either to fix prices or to give a guarantees' 



a tantl is inipot.Niblt< ; it would not help us. 

 n-i. i an you suggest anything better than a 

 guaranteed minimum: No, 1 am afraid 1 cannot. 

 7K). Can you tell us what the views of your 

 Farmers' Club is? Of course, it there is anything at 

 all, they say it will have to be a guarantee, but they 

 do not know what. 



718(3. Have they considered how much it should be? 

 No; they have not told me anything. 



7187. Or ou what footing it should be arranged?- 

 .No; they have no idea at all. 



7188. Have you considered as to whether it is 

 possible it should be on a sliding scale? No. You 

 .-ee the sliding scale would be the same all over the 

 country. It would have to keep the same, unless 

 you could yearly arrive at the cost. 



7189. Have you considered this difficulty ; that the 

 wages as now administered by the Wages Boards 

 can be. changed at a month's notice, or practically 

 about say two or three months perhap- ^ , I, 



7f!)l). You are aware also, are not you, that the 

 prices of feeding stuffs, machinery, and whatever the 

 tanner has to buy. vary from day to day? Yes. 



7191. Do you agree with the general view that has 

 been expressed here, that what a farmer desires more 

 than anything is to have a definite policy arranged 



ay, 5 to 8 yeai "i . - ; we passed that resolu- 

 tion in our chili, in favour ol ftve v.-ars, and we were 

 laughed at. 



7192. Y'ou mid -i-tand. do vim not. that any 

 guarantee would mean, if it is to be effective, tha't 

 the country will ha\e to pay at some time or other P 



7193. And that that comes on to the taxpayer? 

 That is so; I recognise that. 



7194. Cannot he jjr.-at difficulty in arm- 

 ing at a gunranteo for a number of years when nlJ 

 the other elements of cost are fluctuating from day 

 to day, or at any rate at intervals of 2 months' time? 

 Yes; I think if it was definitely stated that the price 

 would be fix. <l even if it varied every year, so that 

 farmers could farm at a. profit, even if you never 

 stated tile exai t guarantee, 'I would give us some 

 encouragement: but T quite realise that- the. guaran- 

 tee in 2 years' time might be excessive if you fixed 

 it now. 



7196. In addition to the other fluctuating circum- 

 stances that I have mentioned . you would agree- also 

 it is quite impossible to fore-ee what the world prices 

 are likelv to he, say. 2 years hence? That, is so. 



7196. Can y,>u Inlji US at .-ill in suggesting anv 

 way of arriving at a sliding scale by whii-h the 

 guarantee would diminish ,-is the general amount of 

 farmers' expenses diminished? You see. it. depends 

 largely on the crwts of labour. That is our main fact. 



7l:>7. I will eonif to thai. 



And fertilis, i 'King simply about 



corn. I am not talking of feeding stork. Tn our 

 jiarf. of Yorkshire we look upon feeding stock as a 

 side line. If we ea n make ends meet by buying and 

 selling and feeding bullock--, the cost of manure, of 

 goe to (lie land, and feeding stuffs are not 

 so important not for corn growing. 



71!i;t. What I understand you to -ay is thai the 

 main elements ill fh,< co-t of corn growing in your 

 part of the Ka^f Hiding are labour and fertiliser 

 Ye. 



7L'<KI. Can you suggest any way by which th.- 

 guarantee could v:(ry with the price of wages? An 

 offhand opinion is no use to us: hut have either you 

 or your Farmers' Club considered that at all? They 



