MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



99 



3 September, 1919.] 



SIR RICHARD WINFREY, M.P. 



[Continued. 



8185. Where can you get seed at 7 per ton? This 

 man did get it at that price. I will make enquiries 

 and let you know where he got it from.f 



8186. When you come to the yield it is based on 

 6 tons at 8 per ton, the actual price made in 1918? 

 Yes, we took the actual price made in 1918 because 

 we do not know what he is going to get for his crop 

 this year. As a matter of fact he has sold just a few 

 earlies at 10 a ton. We put in that figure of 8 

 a ton because that is the actual price he made in 1918 

 for his crop and he hopes to make as much this year. 



8187. Was that 1918 crop main crop or an early 

 crop? They were King Edwards. 



8188. Do you know when they were sold 1 ? I think 

 he told me he delivered them in March. 



8189. This was in Lincolnshire? Yes. 



8190. I can refer you to the prices according to the 

 Potato (Prices) Growers' Commission for Lincoln- 

 shire on black land ? This is not black land. 



8191. On other black land 7 19s. was the maxi- 

 mum price in March? What was it the next month? 



8192. 8. I know this man sold some time in the 

 spring. 



8193. I do not see anything put down for the ex- 

 pense of dressing these potatoes over a If inch riddle 

 which you have to do before you can get the price of 

 8 a ton. Do you know where that expense comes in ? 

 They also have to be delivered free on rail. How far 

 is this from a railway station? This is three miles 

 from a railway station. 



8194. Those items have been omitted, and they ought 

 to be included before you can get the 8, and to get 

 the 8 delivery must have taken place not earlier than 

 in April? I will find out when he sold these potatoes. 



8195. Can you also ascertain if there were actually 

 delivered in 1918 6 tons as late in the season as 

 April ? Yes, I will find that out. 



8196. You do not know whether that is accurate or 

 not? I believe it is accurate. 



8197. Is 6 tons an average crop? I think 6 tons is a 

 little below the average on this land rather than above. 

 We have had some men who have grown 10 tons to the 

 acre, but that is an exceptional crop. 



8198. In 1913 you have a yield of 6 tons. Do you 

 know whether that is an actual figure or an estimated 

 figure? No, I do not. 



8199. t Could you find out the actual cash that this 

 particular holder received for his potato crop in 1913 

 and the actual cash he received for his potato crop in 

 1918? Yes, I will do so. 



8200. Thank you. In the items of cost you have 

 rates 5s. 8d. in 1913 and 5s. 8d. in 1919 on the 2 

 rent? Yes. 



8201. Have the rates not gone up since 1913? No, 

 they have not in that district. 



8202. They are very fortunate? They are. It is a 

 rural area. I may say we pay the rates in a lump 

 sum on this farm. The advantage of that is, of 

 course, that we have never had our assessment altered 

 since it was one holding. The steward pays the rates 

 in the lump and divides them up per acre, each man 

 paying his share. 



8203. Have the actual county rates not gone up 

 between 1913 and 1919? Not our district rate; the 

 only rate that has gone up higher has been the drain- 

 age rate, and that the landlord pays over and above 

 2s. an acre. 



8204. t In paragraph (6) you deal with the cost of 

 production of an acre of wheat. Could you ascer- 

 tain what was the actual money received by this 

 smallholder for hia wheat in 1913? Yes. 



8205. Looking at the Norfolk figures, the second 

 year, the growing of mangolds, I see you finish the 

 expenditure there with graving and earthing down, 

 and then you put in 15 tons at 10s. per ton. Your 

 expanse does not include, apparently, taking these 

 mangolds off the field from the graver Do you mean 

 taking them from the grave into the yard or the 

 chaff-house where they cut them up? 



8200. Yc.,y We finish this account so far as the 

 growing of mangolds is concerned when we grave them 

 down. The other charge would be a charge to the 

 dairy ; this man has four cows. 



8207. Do you suggest when you sell such a crop as 



that, that the place of delivery is in a grave in one 

 of your fields? If this man sold any of them off to 

 his neighbours they would come and fetch them. 



8208. So that that would be the place of delivery 

 in a grave in the field? Yes. 



8209. Not the ordinary delivery to the purchaser? 

 No, not unless he gets paid for it. 



8210. Then in paragraph (10) the cost of producing 

 barley, you have 3 cwt. of artificial manure at 

 16s. 6d. You have got 1 5s. 6d. down for that. It 

 should be 2 9s. 6d. What is the explanation of that? 

 I am afraid that is a typist's error ; there is some- 

 thing wrong there, certainl.y.f 



8211. Now when you come to reaping, carting and 

 threshing, you have reaping 1. Has this man a self- 

 binder? Not of his own; he will probably hire it. 



8212. I was comparing the 1 with your Lincoln- 

 shire price and it does not tally? I expect it is more 

 in Lincolnshire; wages in Lincolnshire are higher all 

 the way round than they are in Norfolk. 



8213. Now come to the next item, carting. In Nor- 

 folk the carting is 1 10s. Od. and in Lincolnshire 

 you have put down the carting as 2 5s. Od.? Yes; 

 that is what I should expect to find. 



8214. In Norfolk you are dealing with 5J quarters 

 of barley that you are carting and in Lincolnshire 

 you are dealing with 4^ quarters of wheat? One 

 man has to cart a mile -the Lincolnshire man. It is 

 a long narrow farm 2 miles in length, and the other 

 man lives within a stone's throw of his field. 



8215. Take the next item, threshing. It is 2 in 

 Lincolnshire and 1 10s. Od. in Norfolk. Is there 

 any reason why it should be so different? As I say, 

 all Lincolnshire prices are higher, team labour and 

 everything. 



8216. " Carting to merchants, 5s. 3d." how is 

 that? In the Norfolk district it is half a mile. This 

 man would sell his barley to Preston. This is prac- 

 tically in the' village in the little town of Swaff- 

 ham. 



8217. Are the rates much less in Norfolk than in 

 Lincolnshire? Yes. 



8218. The rates are Is. 6d.? That is right. I have 

 looked at his receipts and I know that is the correct 

 figure. 



8219. Whereas in Lincolnshire they are 5s. 8d. on 

 2? This land is assessed at about half the value 

 of tho Lincolnshire to start with. 



8220. Look at the next paragraph, grass land laid 

 for hay. Were there no manures there? No. The seeds 

 are sown, as you know, with the barley or just after 

 the barley, and there is no manure put on. 



8221. None whatever ? No. 



8222. Will you look at the making of the hay, 5s. 

 Is that not a typist's mistake for 15s.? You have 

 15s. in the other sheet? I think it is low, but there 

 again you will find everything is lower in Norfolk in 

 the way of costs. 



8223. I do not understand the item in the yield, 

 " } Ton (second crop). 6." Was that also made into 

 hay? Yes, they mow the second crop. 



8224. t Where do you charge the expense of it, be- 

 cause it is not in at all. It cannot be in the first 

 one, and you are giving credit there for 6 and are 

 putting absolutely no expense whatever against it. 

 This particular smallholder, I think, you hav"e told 

 us, has 24 acres? Yes, I think that is what he has 

 on our land. 



8225. Can you get for us the actual area of wheat 

 mangolds, barley and hay seeds, because you bring 

 out an average profit per acre of 6 4s. 4d., and 

 without knowing the area we cannot arrive at an 

 average? They would not be exactly equal of course. 



8226. And if this man has sufficient figures to enable 

 you to make out a cash balance sheet to show what 

 cash ho has made either last year or this year, it 

 would be very interesting? This man has farmed on 

 this land for 19 years now, and ho had very little 

 capital when he started 



8227. t We have estimates of all the various items, 

 but if you rould give us the actual balance sheet of 

 this particular small holding it would be very in- 

 teresting? I will try and get it for you. 



8228. Thank you? He has kept more accounts 

 than most of the men ; that is why I went to him. 



t See Appendix No. IV. 



t See Appendix No. IV. 



2532'.) 



G 3 



