

li>V.\l. > "MM1>M.>N ON AGlilil I.ll KK. 



1C S+Uml*r, 1919.] 



MR. I MM.. 



96746. I put it to you that these " A " f., 



like IUUHV ultiei.s n the district hand for 



the Dimple reason that they cannot be letP That is the 

 cat, undoubtedly; there u a lot of land like farm 

 " A." 



9070. This laud ii really farmed by the ownei 

 because it u not a commercial proposition for any 

 toant to farm it? Probably that is so. 



9677. You think that as regards light lands si; 

 thit, of which we know there are many thousands of 

 acre* in the neighbourhood of Thotford. it it a very 

 precarious position for the future!- Yes. the outlook 

 u very bad indeed, and the difficulty is to know what 

 to do with them at the present time. 



9678. A great deal has been said .ili.mt putting it 

 down to grass. You and I know that it has been put 

 down to grass in the past and that the result has 

 been that in two or three years' time it reverts to 

 what wo call in our part of the country a sheep walk 

 or a rabbit warren'' Yes. 



9679. That was the natural position in years gone 

 by? That is what used to happen. Of course, in 

 our case we keep the rabbits down ; we are very 

 particular about that. 



9680.1 think Mr. X" keeps it cultivated, 

 and certainly has done during the war, from a sense 

 of duty? Undoubtedly, we have tried to keep the 

 land in as good a condition as it was before the war. 



9681. The farmhouses, the rent of which I think 

 Mr. Henderson said should be charged to the farm, 

 are practically cottages? They are used as cottages 

 really because they are occupied by the farm foremen. 



9683. They take that position and, therefore, there 

 is no reason to charge anything for tho farmhouses:' 

 That U so. 



9683. You think that to keep this land in cultivation 

 there must be some guarantee given, otherwise it is 

 I'. Mind to go out? I do. 



9684. You know Didlingtoii and Morton and .ill tlu> 

 light laud estates round about there? Yes. 



9685. A great proportion of that land is in hand 

 to-day, is it not? I have not been there for a long 

 time, but I should say it is. 



9686. For the reason that the landlords have to 

 keep it cultivated at a loss? Yes, that is so; there 

 are a lot of places like that. 



9687. Of course, " A " farm is representative 

 of a good deal of the thousands of acres round about 

 Thotford, at any rate? Yes, and there is a lot of 

 similar land round Swaffham. and other distn> 

 well. 



9688. Something was said about the Swaffham small- 

 holdings. You know as well as I do, that the further 

 north you go the better the land becomes? Un- 

 doubtedly. The Swaffham smallholders' land must be 

 a good deul better than the land we farm. 1 know 

 a good deal of land near Swaffham. which ha* shown 

 a profit of nearly Cl an acre for some years. 



9689. What you mean is that tho better lands show 

 a profit under present conditions? Yes. 



9690. But as to this particular class of land, it is 

 a very difficult problem bow it is to be cultivated in 

 the future? You, that is exactly what 1 do mean. 



9891. Mr. Batchelor: If you look at page ;(. 

 .it tho bottom corner you say, " Kxtro. value 

 to bring up to market value, 4,043." Does that 

 not mean that if you were to realise your assets on 

 thxn farms to-day you would come out witli anotln i 

 it nl:t of profit, in addition to what you have already 

 It means that if wo .sold up to-day we should 

 |.i..l..iliU -el that sum, but it i- only a profit on paper. 



9692. I quite understand You have t-'ili li.-.-| in 

 hand, which von value in your balance slice- 



V.- 



9003. You state that these .-!,. |> .it pi. -eni market 

 values are really worth L"J " that was the 



Milin- I intimated they wore worth last Michaelmas 

 1'J months 



9694. If you bad sold for any reason MIMI ,,f ; 

 >lnH-|> it would haii- made the balance sheet a \er\ 

 much better | but we should not do that. 



because thrao sheep am the breeding flock which we 

 must keep on the f.mn 



9896. Still, til- value . :i.i, - If we sold out 



to-day w should realise a big profit on capital values, 



but you cannot do that if you are going to continue 

 larming, and if you eventually sell out, the prices may 



fallen back to the previous figure. 



9696. Unless the values of .-b.-.-|- : -m- 

 dow .n.siderahly in the near future, the .sheep 



.11 dining the next year will bring you in a 

 \ci\ much higher figure than you show in the balance 

 ilcl only sell the \> ; hem. All 



the values in the accounts have always been consider- 

 ably below the market value. Even in I'.NJK tln-\ 



put down at less than half probably what they 

 were worth. 



9697. Exactly, but still I want to understand 

 whether it is not the case that the profit is lying 

 there for you to take out when you do sell out. 

 unle-s the 'pi ices fall very consideruhl; ' 'inly. 



I the prices fall considerably; it is so in any 

 business. 



9698. Yes, but it is the case here to such a vci\ 

 considerable extent, having regard to the figure- 



are dealing with? I do not think it is to a very con- 

 siderable extent, when you come to consider the fact 

 that the value of money to-day is less than half what, 

 it was in the period when we took these first figures 

 out. Your capital may have doubled automatically, 

 hut the money is only worth half what it was pre- 

 viously. It looks a lot on paper; it looks as if you 

 had made a big profit on paper, but you have not, as 

 a matter of fact, made it at all, because it takes 

 double tho amount of money to-day to buy the same, 

 article. 



9699. I ain suggesting that you will make ' that 

 profit if you keep on realising these assets in tho 

 ordinary course and if prices do not materially tall!' 

 If the prices do not fall we shall realise a higher 

 value, but that value is only equal to half what it 

 uas. You uuiHt halve that value to arrive at the 



.il spending power. 



9700. I have nothing to do with the spending 

 |K>wcr. It will appear on paper that you have made 

 that profit when you go before the Income Tax Com- 

 missioners? That is so. 



'.i7l. 11 is 1 so far as they are concerned, and 

 not 10s.? Yes. 



9702. As against that is it not the caso that all 

 land is in a very much worse condition now than it 

 was in, say, 1908 from the point of view tint there 

 has been a great deal more taken out of it than has 

 been put in!- 1 Most land is in that condition, but 1 

 should not say these farms are. 



9703. To look at the question of the land charged 

 in each of your statements of the cost of growing an 

 acre, of the various cereals on the mixed soil, you put 

 the rental at 1 per acre. How do you arri 

 that: Wa- that the actual rental of the whole farm 

 di\ided by the number of acre.-:- No. Tho wheat 

 would lie "grown on the beet laud, which w<- estimate 

 would bo worth IM an acre to let 



970-1. So that the question of any houses on it has 

 milling whatever to do with it. You have valued tin- 

 actual fields of land with which the particular rop 

 that you are putting in the cost for deals with? 

 Yes; no houses go with the farm except the farm- 

 house. 



9705. That is not what I am asking. If you had 

 taken the full rental you could have deducted the rent 

 of the house, but here you have taken the value of 

 the particular field at 1 nn acre- That is right 



970fi. Nothing whatever to <i.> with tlu- ho': 

 Nothing whatever to do with the house. 



''7(i7. The same in the ease of the heavy land \\hero 

 you have put t!:c rent in at 1 10s. an acre?- ' 



9708. That in in a different district I pnsume- 

 heavier land? That is right. 



!I7(I!> I).. fOO grow any potatoes at all? Very 

 tew. We grew a few some years ago. but they wero 

 not successful: the trouble is to get the labour to 

 take them up am' to handle them 



K yo.ir land suited at all for potatoes? Wo 

 could grow potatoes if we could get the labour to 

 bundle' th* in 



II7II. Mi: .\xlilnj: \- farm " I) " a home farm:' 

 No, it is 1111 off-hand farm; it is let now. 



