90 



KOVAL COMMISSION ON AGIUCULTUKK. 



, 1919.] 



MR. CASTILI. WHEY. 



[Continutd. 



7919. Yes, but do young men to-day command com- 

 paratively better warn* than they did before the war 

 as compared with the older and more experienced 

 men- It is not a case of commanding better wages. 

 \\ t> have to pay what we are told to pay by the Wages 

 Board. I do not quite follow what you want to get 

 at; if you will word your question differently I may 

 be able to answer. 



7990. What was the rate of wages before the war in 

 your district? 18s. to 21s., and boys 10s. to 1%. 



7991. Taking these young lads that you are re- 

 ferring to, what rate of wages would they have been 

 getting before the war? 10s. to 12s. ; if they "were 18 

 they would be getting 15e. or 16s. 



7923. They are now getting in some cases according 

 to the instance you gave 42s., and so on? Yes. 



7923. That -is comparatively a bigger increase in 

 their wages than the married men have got during tin- 

 same period of time? Yes, a great deal more. 



7924. Is it not natural to expect that the younger 

 and more thoughtless men getting more wages are 

 inclined to get their horns out a bitP Yes, I should 

 think very possibly. 



7926. Is not that likely to -be a temporary thing 

 which will adjust itself in course of time? I think 

 if we ever get sufficient labour so that we can sack 

 a man when we want to it will adjust itself im- 

 mediately. 



7920. In other words, owing to the state of the 

 labour market at the present time, the workman is 

 more upon an equality with the employer than he was 

 prior to the war? I do not know what you mean by 

 equality. 



7927. I mean you have not the same facility for 

 sacking a man now as you had before the war? We 

 have not. 



7928. Which means that the workman is able to 

 stand up to his employer much more than he could 

 before the war? He is able to slack his work and 

 pick and choose, if that is what you mean. 



7929. And also to defend himself against his em- 

 ployer? I do not think he needs to defend himself 

 against his employer ; as a rule, that is a case for the 

 In ion. 



7930. Do you wish us to believe that some of the 

 ivorkmcn in your district are unreasonable, but that 

 farmers are never unreasonable? No, I do not sav 

 that at all. 



7931. Would it be possible, do you think, to produce 

 as many instances of farmers treating their workmen 

 unreasonably as if you produced workmen treating 

 their employer unreasonably?! could write to the 

 Chairman of the Farmers' Union if you like and ask 

 him. 



7932. I suggest, as your evidence is collected from 

 the other side, that you might write to the Work- 

 men's Unions and ask them for their experience with 

 regard to the inefficiency of the farmers who cm 

 plond their members, and their inability to handle 

 their ftOCfcpeopb properly? I think I have dealt with 

 that in my evidence before. 



7933. Mr. Dallas: Do you not think that the in- 

 efficiency of labour to-day" is caused by the low wages 

 paid and the slackness on the part of the farmers in 

 day* gone by? I think that certainly has helped 

 towards it. 



79W. The farmers paid their workmen a low rate 

 of wage*, and therefore did not expect a groat deal 

 out f>f their men, and did not get a great deal out of 

 them, lut now they havo to pay higher wages they are 

 not content with the output they are netting:'- -I do 

 not think there was so much need for hustling before 

 the war. A labourer had a better idea of passing 

 his labour in in return for his cah. 



7836. I am convinced that he gave a good return for 

 the canh he R ot. but he did not not much cashr 

 he did nut 



7936. My iioint in that whatever inefficiency there 

 may bo mid at the moment I am not saying whether 

 th#r u or not it U largely due to the fact that ages 

 wr low and employer and workmen wore not -< levied 

 up to H high standard of efficiency I' I <] not think it 

 i* that - much M the wnrcity of lalioiir. I think it 

 i becaum the younger labourer feels ilint he is in ;i 

 pmition to do more or le what he likes, and that he 



stands no risk of losing his employment, and po.M>ilily 

 of Dot getting other employment within walking or 

 bicycling distance <>l his own homo. 1 think he knows 

 to-day that we cannot sack him because wu cannot 

 spare him. 



7!i:t7. l.s that really <orrc.t:-l said I think. 



7!:t->. Only this afternoon 1 heard an insiumo of a 

 man who left his job. He was a carman, and when 

 he went to another employer tho employer asked him 

 if there were many applicants for bin previous job, 

 and he said nineteen;- 1 am very glad 1<I hear it. 



7939. So that it would show that labour is not 

 Marco in agriculture all over the country: 1 wish 

 they would draft a few down my way. 



7! 10. 1 will tell you the names afterwards:- Thank 

 you. 



7!M1. Mr. I uutlcy: I should like to ask you n few 

 questions about tenants Inning their farms. l)nl 

 you have any experience ;u H of Holdei ness in I. in 

 colushiro where tenant farmers bought their holdings 

 a great deal in days gone by:- \,> I ha\c \erv little 

 experience of Lincolnshire, only just of a sma'll part 

 of it round Spalding. 



794*2. I do not know your age, but I am old enough 

 to rememlier the time when the tenant farmers in 

 that district were all sold up. Bad times came along 

 and they could not stand them. Is there not n ri^k 

 that the tenant fanner who has bought his farm, 

 especially it he has not a family behind him, will in 

 the future not be able to .itaiid bad times if they 

 should happen to come along again:' I think there 

 is every likelihood of it. Tho farmer has bought 

 his farm at a dearer price to-day than he could have 

 bought it for at any other time, I should think, 

 during the last 40 years, and every piece of maehinorv 

 he requires he has to buy at a very greatly enhanced 

 pri/ie, and if there is any reaction in the near future 

 in prices I think the farmer is bound to be sold up in 

 many cases. 



7943. Assuming that I have not exaggerated that 

 risk to the tenant who has bought his holding, would 

 not the tenant farmer in you opinion be better em- 

 ployed in using the capital that he puts into buying 

 his land in increasing his yield and employing up-to- 

 date methods so that he would be more likely to get 

 a better return on his capital by using it ns farm 

 capital than as a land owner? I think for the good 

 of the country he would certainly be employing his 

 capital much better. 



7!MJ. And in his own interest would his capital not 

 ho better so employed?- Yos. in a great many 

 I think it would, because I fancy a good deal of the 

 money that is being paid by these farmers to-day for 

 their farms has been lent to them by banks, and 

 is a mortgage on their farms, which, of course, will 

 mean an extra expense to the farmer. 



7945. Under the present \\stem of Knglish tenancies 

 the custom is for the landlord to do the main repairs, 

 is it not? Yes. 



7946. The tenant keeps the ditches and fences in 

 order? Yes, and hauls the material as a rule. 



7947. The landlord finds all the material ? Yes, and 

 the tenant hauls it. 



7948. Can you tell ino at all from your experience 

 what percentage of the rental the landlords' repairs 

 on a reasonably well managed estate form:- No, 1 

 cannot give you the pen-outage, hut the maintenance 

 claim which is now allowed in full by the Inland 

 Hevenuo is an example of the heavy expenditure in- 

 volved. They used to allow him 2o' por cent, of hi* 

 maintenance claim, but they now allow him the whole 

 of it. 



7949. Tho landlord can get bark under Schedule 

 A. tho whole cost of maintenance now? Yes, on his 

 farms. 



7!>50. That T understand you to say amounts to morn 

 than '?"> per cent:- Yes, as the law stood it allowed 

 2."i per cent, for some period, and then since the war 

 I think it has been raised up to tho full amount. 



7!'.M. Will all that expenditure fall on the tominl 

 who has bought his own holding? Ye. 



70.">2. It will bo rather a iKistv thing when he wakes 

 up to the full force of that, will it not?- Ye* it I,,. 

 don 



