MIM'TKS OF KVIDKXCK. 



1!) 



16 September, 1919.] 



MK. L. N. GOODINO. 



[Continutd. 



" X " has other farms, but with regard to that 

 particular farm the figures are absolutely correct. 



9411. The future does not hold out much hope for 

 the farmer according to these figures? The future 

 for these light land farms is very bad, and at present 

 I fail to see where they are going to make a profit. 



9412. In that case a guarantee would be of very 

 little use? The present guarantee would not be of 

 ninth use. 



0413. Mr. Lang ford: Is this " A " farm one you 

 are farming yourself? -Yes. 



9414. What is the rental of it? There is no rent 

 at least, we do not pay any rent ; I have put the 

 schedule A assessment in. 



9415. Is it Mr. " X 's " own property ? Yes. 

 I am farming it as agent for Mr. " X." 1 have 

 put the schedule A of assessment in and the tithe, 

 which is how we have to do it for the Income Tax 

 returns. 



9416. Mr. " X " is the owner and occupier, so to 

 -.peak? Yes. 



!H17. Wh:it an- the adjoining farms of similar land 

 let at? I have got particulars of the adjoining farms 

 here, only they are all rather a different class. Kami 

 " li " adjoins farm " A." 



941^. Can you give us any rough idea as to what 

 similar land in the district is rented at? This 

 schedule " B " assessment is 344, which, I should 

 say, is a very fair rent for the farm. 



!M19. That is less than 10s. per acre? Yes. 



9420. Your average profit for the last 10 years has 

 amounted to 2(il> a year ?--Yes ; that is without pay- 

 ing interest on tiic money invested. 



9421. You have paid no interest at all? No. 



9422. So that if you had paid interest on capital 

 your small profit of 260 would have been turned 

 into a very substantial loss? That is right. 



942.'!. What is the chief reason that you have not 

 made a better profit; there must be some reason for 

 it? The farm has been farmed strictly on a com- 

 mi rcial basis; we have done everything we could to 

 make a profit The chief reason, more often than not, 

 is tlic effects of the weather; a drought at some time 

 in the year generally ruins the crops to a certain 

 extent. 



'.)!_'! Surely you have not hud abnormally bad 

 weather in tin- rase of this farm during the whole 

 of these 10 years? Nearly every year there has been 

 a drought during the early spring or summer, which 

 affects this land very much. 



'.M.'5. You have not been short of capital? No, 

 there is unlimited capital. 



!H-_>i. Hai-e you had too much capital because 

 there are concerns which are over-capitalised, as you 

 know? \Ve have not had too much; we have always 

 had what we wanted. 



OtL'7. You do not put these figures forward as repre- 

 sentative of the profits that ordinary farmers make 

 on similar sized farms, do you? On this class of land, 

 I do. 



'.l2-< ll:i^ any of the hind in your district been sold 

 lerently? No, not for a considerable time. 



I'l'Jii. No tenant farmers in your district have been 

 purchasing their farms? Yes. within a few miles 

 round, some of them have. 



Dl.'fi Can xoii judge as to the prosperity, or other- 



<>f your neighbours' farms; do you think they 



are doing about the same as you, or better or worse? 



IVople tanning the same class of land are all telling 



'ne now that they are unable to make a living out 



nf it. 



9431. What do you suggest should become of this 

 land in the future- The only thing I can suggest is 

 that the </i cater part of it will be laid down to grass 

 and the best part of the land will be farmed. That 

 i- the only tiling I call see to do with it. 



9432. I observe that during the national crisis yon 

 have not ploughed up much additional land?- That 



Dimply liccaii.-c we had all tin 1 suitable land 

 ploughed up before the war. 



!ll:!3. Dues not your sungestion of what should be 

 .lone with the land in the future imply that if you 

 had been wise in the pant you would have put the 



M8.41 



land down to pasture? Why did you not do that? 

 Why did we not put it down to pasture before ? 



9434. Yes? Because it did not cost so much for 

 labour ; it is the labour question which is the trouble 

 on these lands. 



9435. I submit to you that if you had laid it down 

 to grase, your labour bill would have been considerably 

 reduced ? Certainly. 



9436. Your profit, therefore, would have been so 

 much higher? That is probable. 



9437. That being so, why did you pursue a method 

 of farming which gave you a minimum of profit pre- 

 war? Why did you not take advantage of the 

 method of farming your land in the best possible 

 way, namely, putting it down to pasture and thereby 

 getting a higher profit? It is not at all certain that 

 we shall get more profit if we lay it down to pasture ; 

 the only thing we shall do is to reduce expense. 



9438. I take it that what the Commission would 

 like to know from you is what is your panacea for the 

 evil of making small profits in the future. How do 

 you propose to deal with this land to make a better 

 profit than you have made in the past? As I eay, by 

 cultivating the best of the land and laying the other 

 down, and keeping more breeding and pedigree stock. 



9439. You might make better profits in that way? 

 Quite possibly. 



9440. Then you agree with me that in the past you 

 have not been farming this land in the most suitable 

 manner to make the maximum profit? It is an open 

 question ; we may not make more profit the other 

 way, but we are going to try it; we think possibly 

 we may. 



9441. Is there a largo area of land similar to yours 

 in the district ? Yes, there are several large estates 

 round about. 



9442. From the national standpoint that land is of 

 very little use? We have been farming it to produce 

 all the corn possible in the past, but it has come to 

 this, that the expense is so great that we shall have 

 to give up growing corn on that land. 



'.'lt.T That is what I should imagine. What is the 

 average yield of wheat crops that you grow? I gave 

 you that in my previous evidence. The average yield 

 of wheat is 32-88 bushels on that farm, but as I said, 

 \\e always grow wheat on the best land under the best 

 conditions. 



9444. What is the average for barley? 17-92 

 bushels. 



\>\\~i And oats? The average for oats is 33 

 bushels; that is over a series of six years. 



9446. Yours is light land? Yes. 



9447. Do you plough with a double furrow? Yes, 

 \\ e can do so with two horses. 



9448. You can work almost in any weather I sup- 

 pose?- As soon as it stops raining we go to work. 



!'449. You have got on this land distinct ad- 

 vantages over farmers who are farming on heavy 

 land? Yes, in the respect that we can get to work 

 very often when they cannot. 



9450. You keep a lot of sheep I suppose? We keep 

 a flock of ewes 



9451. Are you able to hurdle? Yes. 



9452. Do you want to give the Commission an im- 

 pression that farmers in your district farming similar 

 land are doing no better than you are doing? Cer- 

 tainly. I take it there could not be a farm farmed 

 in a more businesslike manner than this farm has 

 been farmed for the last 20 years, and on similar land 

 I cannot see how any .farmer could make a better 

 return than we have done, working under similar 

 conditions. 



9153. Have the farmers in your district gone into 

 thci Bankruptcy Court? They have not done so 

 recently, but it is likely that they may very soon. 



9454. Do they rear families there? Not very big 

 ones. 



9155. Have you ever known a farmer set his son 

 up in farming? Oh yes. 



9456. Where does he get tb " money from? He 

 very often borrows the capital, but I could not say. 



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