. . ..\I\HNS|,,N 



.\(ii;]( i i.ri UK. 



. 1919.] 



MR. L. N. 



[Continued. 



and from your own figure* that if proved, and 1 do 

 not think anybody hero would suggest that oven the 

 moderate turn of a "> guarantee per quarter would 

 be any good in your case what tue i this land? 

 The be>t of this Uud will grow rather better crops 

 than I hare got down as the average return. The 

 principle in the future will be to lay down the worst 

 of the land to lucerne and to crop the beet of the land. 



8686. On a farm of thin MZ<- how inuc-li lucerne- could 

 you do with." .Stip|x.sing nil th<> farmers in that dis- 

 trict were to MY: " Wheat growing is no good; the 

 laad u not much line for grass, an. I .- mil g ( > in for 

 lucerne," what would be the position then? You 

 would (imply make it into huy and soil it. 



9686. la that a sound pr,.p.>-iti.,n :- 1 shemld say no; 

 I ahould My it it the best thing to ilu with the land 

 at the present time. 



9697. Would it not be better U> say: This laud 

 is really no use for tlio purpose of cereals " '' That 

 was the answri i Mi. l.cnnard that you hardly 

 knew what this land really could be used for. It is 

 no good for cereal growing, it is a poor proposition 

 for root*, and if you turn it into lucerne you got rid 

 of the game, because they will not live on lucerne if 

 there is not something else as v rll. You xxould therc- 

 fore be killing two birds with one stone. You would 

 have a profitable industry, and would not have to 

 bother about guarantees t all. Is there anything in 

 that, do you think:- Part of the land is suitable for 

 corn growing, and nil the beet of it 1 maintain .should 

 be cropped, and the rest of it laid down to lucerne 

 and grasses. 



9528. Is it not your suggestion that the best of it 

 wants a guarantee of 5 a quarter to make it a pay- 

 ing proposition?- I did not suggest l"> a quarter; 

 somebody else suggested that figure. I said in inv 

 previous evidence that in the '.-ase of these light lands 

 it costs 83s. lOd. a quarter to grow wheat without 

 paying interest. 



9529. Is that on very light lands?- That is <>n the 

 best land on these light land farms. Of course wheat 

 is always grown on the best of the land ; we should 

 never dream of putting wheat on land that we should 

 lay down to lucerne, and that cost of growing wheat 

 is without allowing the farmer any interest on his 

 capital : he should have something over and alxrn* 

 that to pay intore t on his capital. 



9530. Does that apply to the gentleman whose land 

 you overlook? Do you suggest he' should have some- 

 thing for interest on Ids capital? 1 suggest that the 

 price should be fixed on the cost of production plus 

 interest on the money invested in the (arm and some- 

 thing for the farmer's own time. 



9531. That is, in tin- .as.. Mr. X "P Yes. 



9532. You are a kind of overlooking agent for him? 

 \. - 



9533. But you have also a sort of farm foreman 

 on the place who really does run the show in respect 

 of whom you'charge 1-. an aero for foreman's manage- 

 ment? Yes, that is the working foreman on the farm. 



!! is really the man who is the brains of the 

 biiftinewi? No. I l>eg to differ from you. lie is the man 

 who looks after the labourers. 



9536. That is the most difficult job of any in these 

 times. The man who goes round on horw'hae-k and 

 looks round and keep* the accounts septan* has not 

 a fleahite of a job e-omparexl with the working fore- 

 man's. It is the working foreman who has to stick Ids 

 back into it. and his brains too. I am a little hit 

 puulol alxnit the.v. figures because the man whose 

 money is invested in the farm ha- to live out of it. 

 and the man who rides round to overlook it and east 

 his eye over it ha* to live out of it. and the working 

 foreman, who is the practical manager of it. li 

 live out of it, nnd then th.-r.. an* the lab,. 

 undw him who have aW> t/> live out of it? There 

 i nothing charged in th:M> account,, f,,, tin- agent 

 .r tho owner, only for the foreman. 



9*86. There in the rent? The rent would hnvo 

 to h* paid in a. i|,,. f :irm ,,,,, ] pl 



I know, t.ut 1 thought this land was not worth 

 non. lhn lO,. =, .-,,,.- s.,, f , j, ,,,,), ,,, ( , r<> 



h.n th;H I hav. ,.,U,.|, | he ,ent t l,,,lf the Schedule 

 11 asMMnvnt. which is t.'lll 



9538. I should appeal to .some of the Norfolk 

 farmers that 1 and 30s. an acre is a very high rent 

 for this land, especially uhen .some ol it, us you 

 ha\e proved, IA no good to anybody? The point 

 \.'U ot or look is that the wheat is al;iys grown on 

 the h.--i land on the farm and under tin 

 ditioiih, and that that land i.- worth 11 an am- aim 

 Mivihly more. 



9639. Yes, but you an* n.'i always growing wii, 



No, a foil! colll'.e shift. 



\\heai ..ne in foiu .- \cs, but that 



'an. I upon which the wheat is grown i- worth JL'I an 

 acre for the four course shift and there i- other 

 light land on this farm which we shall lay ilown to 

 lucerne which is not worth perhaps more than ' 



M.I the axciage rent w,.ik- out al*oiit Mu. 

 !'">ll. What I am puz/.led about, ami uh.it 1 am 

 ically worried over loo, is that for over a period of 

 ycar.s a man ha- been suffering theso business 

 every year and still goes on, and that his -on when 

 he gets married will want to take on In- lather's 

 farm. Surely if your figures are accurate the win 

 would have sense enough to say it was not a paying 

 ('.position, whereas what he really says is that his 

 father, who has apparently been losing money cxery 

 year fin- a number of years, hits not got at all a bad 

 job, and is willing to take it on. There must be 

 .something hchiml the scem-s that these men who make 

 a living out of farming know which the outsider does 

 not know. It seems to m. un1us.s I am daft, that as 

 soon as I saw this proposition I should bundle off and 

 never dream of staying in Norfolk or touching 

 farming on this land at all? There is such a thing 

 as the privilege of living on a. farm the .social 

 position a man gets and a IIKIU may he prepared 

 to take less interest for his money in that ca-e than 

 he would if he invested it in Government .securities. 



!l. r >12. I know, but the privilege in this ca.se appar- 

 ently is that the man st-ands to lew eve*rvthing ln> ha.- 

 got, because he i.s worse off at the eiul of each \- 

 1 do not sec that. 



; The* whole thing is roally u sort of puzzle 

 All I can say is. these figures aie absolutely 

 ronvrt ill every case. I have kept the account- my.-, If 

 for the last ~<i years, and they have been audited 

 every year, and 1 will guarantee that all these Bf 

 are absolutely correct. 



i'.MI. 1 do not dispute the figures, hut I have* had 

 so much to do with figures that I know something 

 about them. 



!>."'l.">. Mr. I'urker: In answer to a cpic.-tion by Mr. 

 (;n*i*n you .-aid that the 10.000 e-apital refen'ed to 

 on page I was oul\ an estimate? Yes, that is as near 

 a- I ,an estimate what it would c<,-t to take oxer tlie 

 farm to-day. 



9546. It is not a question of the actual capital 

 employed, but an estimate <>l the capital you think 

 xvould be neces-ary to work the- farm to-day, which 

 consists of S22 a.-ii 'I . 



'.'.'> 17. What e-apital elid vein emplov <m this farm 

 in 11)14? In 1914 we hod 7.068. 



'.'>\*. Wha! capital are you employing to-il 

 10,000. 



!).">l!l. Thi-n it i.s not an esiimate. but an ae-tual Mimr 



That is as near as I can put ii. having regard to tin- 

 pro. -lit market values, what it xvould cost to stock 

 the farm and leave you enough floating capital to 

 carry on. 



Do you (-.insider that 1O.OOO capita! 

 .sufficient capita] nowadays t.. enable you to farm 

 822 acres? In this particular CM it is ; it would not 

 hi* as ii rule. 



JfcVil. Mr. Itoliliiiif. In i.-spect of farm " A " you 

 .-ay you charged schedule " A " M a- the 



I i do not seem tn have done that in the 

 ..I the other farms?- There is schedule " \ " 

 assotB8lii.nl plus the tithe ill the case of farm " A ": 

 the others arc just the prolil and loss accounts. 



9663. If rent h..- tu ! taken into account in one 

 rase* does it nut ban- to be taken into account in the 

 e>the*rs "i I have shown what the rent is in the 

 Table at the .-n.l. On Schedule " B " aswissnient e.f 

 CI'.KL' the rent i- t.'Ml in tli, MM of farm " H " and 



