MINUTES OK EVIDENCE. 



29 



1C Sej>iemt>er, 1919.] 



MR. L. N. GOODING. 



[Continued. 



9801. Do you vary the price each year? According 

 to the crop; I should not take them at more than halt 

 the market value. 



9802. You take the roots at half the market value, 

 but you make a separate valuation each year;' That 

 is right. 



9803. What do you do about the hay:' That is all 

 taken at consuming value on the farm. 



9804. Does the consuming value vary or not? It 

 hn-i done recently. 



9805. I want to know what you are doing ? I have 

 taken the hay at the same price every year in these 

 accounts. 



9806. Is the hay put down in 1918 at the same 

 price as in 1914 ? The same price per ton. 



9807. In that last column of the Capital Valuation 

 Farm " A," taking hay as it stands at the 1918 

 Michaelmas valuation at 363, and at the value at 

 present market prices, 825? Yes. 



<>.*OH. Is 825 the present consuming price? Yes. 

 L '--I't is the value on the farm. A great part of the 

 hay was taken over by the Government, and it was 

 put at the value that it stood at on the farm. 



9809. I do not understand what that means. What 

 price does the 263 represent for the hay at Michael- 

 mas, 1918, in your balance sheet? That represents 

 30s. a ton. 



9810. The present market value is 825 you say P 

 The present market value varies from 4 to 5 guineas 

 a ton. 



9811. Is that what you call the consuming value of 

 the hay to-day? No, that is the value last Michacl- 

 in:i'-, which is quite different. 



9812. You have got " Value at present market 

 values." Does that mean at Michaelmas, 1918? 

 Ye; of course, it has gone up since then again. 



9813. I only want to get at what your figures mean. 

 You have given us here the total value at Michael- 

 mas, 1918, as it stands in your books? Yes. 



9814. That shows 263 for the hay which you tell 

 me represents 30s. a ton ? Yea. 



9815. In the last column you have "Value at 

 present market values "? That should be " consum- 

 ing value at market prices in October, 1918." 



9816. 825 you say represents the value of the hay, 

 taking it at about 4 10s. a ton? That would be 

 about the average just a little more than that. 



9817. How do you value the corn : do you value 

 it each year? Yes. 



9818. You estimate in the stack what it will be 

 likely to realise? What we estimate it will be likely 

 to realise as corn at the market price. 



9819. You then add the floating capital and you 

 add the extra value to bring out the present market 

 value? That is the difference between the two 

 columns. 



9820. On the whole it has already been pointed out 

 that both on the hay and the sheep, at any rate, 

 you do stand a good deal better off than your figures 

 show? Yes, if we were to realise now. 



9821. Would 12 a ton as the consuming value of 

 hay be out of the way at the present moment? No, 

 probably not to-day. 



9822. You have got out figures here showing a 

 comparison of prices I think you did this in answer 

 to a question of mine showing a comparison of prices 

 in the years 1914 and 1918 and 1919 of a number 

 of articles which are set out on page 7? Yes. 



!>-23. Are those taken from your books? Some are. 

 In most cases they are taken from the figures which 

 linvc hern supplied to me by the Eastern Counties 

 Farmers' Co-operative Society. 



!)824. These are prices which you have ascertained? 

 T actually paid them. 



9826. You cannot tell us which you have actually 

 paid and which you have ascertained? Hardly, just 

 now. 



982(5. I do not want to go through them in detail 

 at the moment. Is the Eastern Counties Farmers' 

 ('n-iijicrative Society a very large society?--! believe 

 it is the largest farmers' co-operaitive society in 

 England. 



'.^'2~ . The prices they gave you would be the prices 

 that are paid by farmers in Norfolk? Certainly. 



9828. The very best way you could buy those 

 articles? The very best way you can buy them, yes. 



9829. Are your i919 prices the prices the farmers 

 were paying at the time these figures were supplied 

 to you? Yes. 



9830. Can you teil me what part of 1919 the figures 

 refer to? Up to about a fortnight ago; it would be 

 to about the end of August, 1919. 



9831. The last column of the comparison of prices 

 refers to the last week in August, 1919? Yes. 



9832. That shows the increase as from 1914? Yes. 

 There is a considerable alteration in some of the -items 

 already, for instance, the horse shoeing has gone up 

 from 7s. 6d. to 9s. I saw that in the paper this 

 morning. 



9833. Have these figures been seen by the Norfolk 

 Chamber of Agriculture? Yes, they have seen them 

 all, I think. 



9834. Do they agree with them? I should hardly 

 say the whole of the Chamber. The costs of pro- 

 duction have been gone through by the Committee 

 of Farmers. 



9835. I am referring to the prices? They were 

 seen by the Committee of Farmers for whom I am 

 working. It is the Farmers' Federation, as a matter 

 of fact ; I do not think many members of the Chamber 

 were there. 



9836. The Farmers' Federation saw these figures 

 before they were printed, and they agree that they are 

 right? Yes, they helped me to get some of the figures. 



9837. You have also given the cost of production 

 of one acre of wheat on the heavy and the light and 

 the medium land.-, in Norfolk? Yes. 



9838. Have those figures been seen and investi- 

 gated by the Committee of the Farmers' Federation? 

 Yes. 



9839. And by the Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture? 

 No, not by the Chamber of Agriculture. 



9840. Could you tell me how many members the 

 Farmers' Federation consists of? I cannot give you 

 the numbers of members, but I can tell you that they 

 represent 600,000 acres of arable land. 



9841. What do you mean by represent? The 

 farmers who are members of this Federation them- 

 selves farm 600,000 acres of arable. I cannot tell 

 you how many memb'ers there are, but I should think 

 perhaps about 2,000. 



9842. As many as 2,000?- I should say so, probably. 



9843. The Committee appointed by them have seen 

 these figures that you have put before us? Yes. 



9844. Do they agree with them? Yes. 



9845. How many members does the Committee con- 

 sist of? There are eight or nine, I think, on the 

 Committee. 



9846. Are they an elected Committee by the rest 

 of the members? Yes; they were chosen by them. 



9847. Whether the prices arc right or wrong, are 

 they the prices which are recognised by the farmers? 

 Yes, in most cases. They went through the lists 

 with me of the cost of production very carefully, and 

 they instructed me in preparing them, as a matter 

 of fact. After I had got my figures together I asked 

 them to give me their opinion with regard to them and 

 to criticise them, and if I was wrong in any case to 

 put me right. 



9848. Do these figures that you have put here agree 

 with your practical experience of what you had to 

 pay for similar operations?- Yes. 



9849. What the cost has been to you of those 

 similar operations? Yes. 



9850. It has been suggested that some of theso 

 operations are unnecessary for proper farming. What 

 I mean by proper farming is sound commercial farm- 

 ing. Are they necessary or are they not? T should 

 say they are all necessary to farm your land properly 

 and keep it clean ; as a matter of fact, they would 

 not perhaps all be done. 



9851. Weather may prevent some from being done 

 and time may prevent others? Yes, and you might 

 want to plough your land again in some cases. 



9852. Yes. I was going to point out there is only 

 one cost of ploughing here in the mixed soil? Ye, 

 we should only plough it once for wheat. 



