, 1919.] 



HOYAL t'OMMll"N "N 



MB. L. N. Oootr 



9750. l it not your experience that there ha* been 



tirv l.ugc tendcm v <>ii tin' |mrt of farmers generally 

 to j.i.ip li.iinl weeding: Then- i- with the ritiult 

 that tin- l.iml is in M-I.V bud c-omlitiun. 



0751. Have you seen any of it being dono again r 

 Ye*, u good deal of hand work has been done tins 

 year, (.pudding thistle* and pulling docks. 



0763. That would not cost you 16s. an :n i . V . 

 but before tho war we always used to hand hot) tho 

 wlii-.it in tlii- spring. 



9753. Before none hoeing? No, after horse hooiug. 



0754. You horse (too anil then hand hoe and thru 

 weed and spud thistle* and pull docks? The man who 

 did the horse hoeing probably would uot hand hoc ; 

 he would only do the weeding. But I should say it 

 i.s more usual now to leave out tho horse hoeing and 

 do a bit of weeding. 



9766. I should have thought tli.it it would have been 

 more usual in your case to leave out both the horse 

 hoeing and the hand hoeing and put down 3n. to ~>s. 

 an acre for weeding? No, it would cost more than 

 that. We always used to horse hoe the land or else 

 hand hoe it for wheat and a little before harvest 

 we should do a considerable amount of weeding and 

 spudding thistles and pulling docks, with the exn-p- 

 tion of the last year or two when we could not get 

 the labour. 



9766. I suppose you have no means of checking 

 these estimates of cost of production with the actual 

 recorded expenditure upon these farms? No, I have 

 not detailed costs accounts. 



'.'7"i7. You have no means of getting a rough check 

 on them even? Yes, I have, because I know what a 

 man does in a day. 



9758. So do I, niore or less, but I always feel very 

 dissatisfied after a person has put down a number 

 of operations because you can never be sure that lie 

 lias carried them out. If you work a four course 

 rotation on land of this character horse hoeing and 

 hand hoeing with even very little cultivation before 

 those processes your land ought to be like a garden. 

 Is it? It is hardly like a garden, but I should think 

 it is as clean as it was before the war. 



9759. You have ploughing and rolling and harrow- 

 ing twice. That is spring harrowing, I presume? 



V j 



9760. And rolling and hoeing and weeding and 

 spudding thistles anil pulling docks. One would have 

 thought after all those operations that there would not 

 he a thistle to be seen that would want spudding? 

 Tlu-re are generally a lot of thistles that will come 

 up. and the land has been allowed to get in such a 

 bad state that it will cost a considerable amount of 

 money to get it into order again on most farms. 



1'illri/: Y<MI might tell me how long 

 you have been farming? Twenty years this year on 

 these farms. 



9762. Have you been agent for them all the time? 



- Yes. 



976.1. You have I" tisible for the direction 



ami arrangement of the cropping and of the various 

 operations which havo Keen curried on all tho time? 

 YPK, with Mr. " X's " assistance, of course. 



I. Hcfore that wore you n farmer!- I was tin- 

 son of a farmer, I was not farming before that. 

 but I had n course of instrm tion in farm accounts 

 with an aicoiintant. 



I ask you because 1 want to know whether 

 .mil ha* been farmed as well as land ran he 

 f.miM-d from a practical |x>int of view!' I .should say 

 T hnre farmed it under Mr. " X's " direction put 

 it in that way if you like and he is a practical 

 farn 



And Miu an- n practical farmer?- Yes, I am a, 

 :;! farmer at thn priwent time. I do not know 

 any landlord farming in Norfolk who knows as much 

 wbont funning as Mr. "X." 



'" \idcii.c is put in by you on In-half of 



S or folk (liamhor of Agriculture and the Kan 

 Federation. Limited'- That 



97W. 1% that the farmers' bod*, f,,, Norfolk? It 



of them: then- i, another one. 



9789. Thin i- different from the Karmeis' I'liion;- 

 1 ' ' .iL-i going to put 



In figure*. 



9770. You represent the Norfolk Chamber of Agri- 

 culture?- Yes, they asked me to collect evidence and 

 figures on their behalf. 



!'771. Tli I \oii to do that und to give 



c\ nleme here:- Certainly. 



l'77'J. You have given us ;n -count*, in resjHt t of lour 

 farms. A, H, ('-. and l> V 



:'77.t Are each of these farms Mr. "X's":- 

 they aro tin- on--.-, in ic.spwt of which I was 

 asked to produce the figures. 



:>7n. Kadi of them has been under your manage- 

 ment for all the years in respect of winch you give 

 figures? Yes. 



9775. The fieuies, I gather, are taken from actual 

 books which l.avo been audited? Yes. 



9776-7. Take Farm A. What was done m arriving 

 at the valuations HIT.- they valued by von - Yes. I 

 have always n.adc the valuation every Michaelmas. 



9778. Taking your horses, for instance, do jou 

 appreciate them, or do you depreciate them, or do you 

 value them as they stand, or do you leave them as 

 they stood in the books? In the ordinary years until 

 last year we have always taken them as they stood 

 in the books, and added on any horses that have been 

 bought. 



9779. At cost price? At cost price, and then that 

 has been reduced the next year. The result of that 

 is that the figures always stood at less than half the 

 market value. 



9780. We have not got it quite clear yet. Take 

 your existing horses at the beginning of the year, 

 they stand in your books at a certain price? Yes. 



9781. Your work horses I am talking of? 1'es. 



9782. You take your horses at the beginning of tho 

 farm year at a certain price, which is put down MI 

 the valuation? Yes. 



9783. At the end of the year do .you take them at 

 the same figure a<< they stood at before? Yes, in tho 

 ordinary way the working horses. 



!>7ls4. You do not take tiny depreciation olfr The 

 depreciation comes off the new horses that are 

 brought in; the old ones will probably stand at the 

 same figure. 



9785. Supposing you have ten horses standing at 

 50 apiece, do they stand in the books at the same 

 figure each yciir until they are sold or die? Thev 

 do. 



9786. Your old horses all stand in the books at >Mi- 

 Not as high as 50, but at a nominal ligurc liko 

 that; some aro vorth more and some are worth less 



9787. Supposing you buy in one at <XK- That is 

 taken tho first J<-af at 6(1, the second at 40, an.) 

 the third year it is put in at the same value as th.> 

 others. 



9788. Then you do not write them down any inoref 

 No, they stand at that figure. 



9789. Take your cattle? The cattle have been 

 taken as near as possible at market value. 



9790. An individual valuation by you? Y'es. at 

 the time of the valuation. 



9791. You value them every year: 1 



9792. You him been asked about the sheep 

 already? Yes, tl i-y were taken at a nominal value. 



'.I7!>:t. Do i.h.-v .stand at the same value each year" 

 They were di hi cciated Is. or 'Js. apiece i very year 

 for a number of u-ars until the early part of 1014, 

 and they have M-od at that figure since: they haxo 

 not been depreciated any more. The rams that we 

 bought have been taken at cost price. 



9794. What do you do with regard to the imple 

 incuts; 1 They h;,\e been reduced 111 per cent. 

 year. 



!i7'.i"i. And you add the cost of the new ones-' We 

 add the cost of the new ones less 10 per cent. 



!7!M;. That Us been each yeai-- 



97!)7. Does the- tenant right stand at the same 

 figure each yiar? The tenant right has been ex- 

 cludedthat is to say, any ciiflivatinns have not been 

 put down. 



- You ]cae that out ? - V 



5)71)9. Now the root-'- The roots were taken at a 

 more or less average figure every year. 



fiMKl. 'I he same price every year!' Not tin- same 

 price, but at a low figure, much below cost price. 



