48 



ROYAL COMMISSION ON AQRICULTUKK. 



17 StpUmbtr, 1919.] 



ME. H. ARMOOR and MR. O. O. MERCER. 



[Continued. 



YM, they all bent-fit. The whole of the cereal crop 



10,396. And the only legitimate addition to add to 

 the wheat crop was the extra dungP Yea. 



10.337. That is the only oneP Yea. 



10.338. And the seed*, of course P Of course. 

 10,839. Now I understand your rotation, I think 



you .in justified in the system you huve ad.ipted .is 

 showing cost. The only other question I would .1-1. 

 on that is, why do you charge interval on capital the 

 bame in 1919 as you do in 1913? Has not your cnpit il 

 employed doubled in vajue? I do not know. I think 

 possibly there is something in what you gay; but I 

 really hare not calculated it. 



10.340. You see, we want to get the accurate cost. 

 It not the capital value that you have in your farm 

 stock and crop double what it was in 1913 ? Yes, I 

 think you are right. 



10.341. If that were so, and 10s. was right in 1913, 

 that 10s. ought to be 20s. P Yes, it would apply to all 

 the crops. 



10,343. How do you get at the 5s. and the 7s 6d. for 

 management P That is for outlays, such as postages, 

 market expenses, trains, and those incidental expenses 

 connected with the farm. 



10.343. I read that as meaning that that was some 

 remuneration for the farmer? No. 



10.344. This is only expenses out of pocket? Out 

 of pocket expenses. It ought to have been stated so, 

 and there has been a mistake in not stating it so. 



10.345. What you would call " Sundries "? Quite 

 o. It is going to market, and expenses such as 

 postages, stationery ; and a whole lot of expenses that 

 are too numerous to mention. 



10.346. Do you employ a veterinary surgeon in Scot- 

 land P Yes, we do. He comes in there, too. 



10.347. You did explain to Mr. Duncan the cost of 

 your horses. Are these horses used for making the 

 hay on the permanent pasture? Yes, we have no 

 meadow hay, you see. 



10.348. Yon do not make meadow hay in Scotland? 

 We do in Scotland ; but on a four-shift rotation we 

 do not make meadow hay. 



10.349. I quite agree not on the rotation ground, 

 but on the other ground on the farm? No, we have 

 no meadow hay on that. 



10,360. Then are the horses that are employed on 

 the farm simply used on the tillage land? Quite so. 



10.351. Entirely? Entirely. 



10.352. So that it is a fair thing to divide the whole 

 cost over the tillage land? Quite so. 



10.353. I understand you to say that yon valued 

 the hay, taking the cost of 1919, at 8s. a owt., or 8 

 a ton P Yes. 



10.354. Would it be out of the way to suggest that 

 the consuming value of hay at the present time is 

 12 a ton? I thought it would be a bold estimate 

 to put down 12 for hay. 



10,356. You dare not do it, you mean, because it is 

 ao big? Yes. 



10.356. What are you selling hay at in Scotland? 

 12 a ton. 



10.357. Do you know that in the South of England 

 it U selling at 16 and more? I have heard so. 



10.358. But it has not got up to those high price 

 in Scotland? No, but they are paying 12 a ton in 

 Scotland and it has to be baled, and the KnizlMiiiian 

 has to pay fof tho baling and the railway rates and 

 the merchant's expenses; so that I believe 'it will come 

 to pretty near what you say. 



lO.rViO. If it u 12, what is the proper consuming 

 value? 19 in n abnormal price, and I do not think 

 it will be fair to state it. 



10.8CO. I agree, but we are in abnormal times. I 

 nm only looking to next year P Them are a great 

 many farms on which there in no hay at all. 



10.301. Then that will make tho price dearer? Yea, 

 that ha* raised tho price. 



10 32. But you utill think 8 is a fair price to put 

 for the whole of the coming winter? No, not thin 

 winU-r lav winter. 



10.363. That is what I am asking you about? I do 

 not know how to deal with that, because I 



it is an abnormal price. 



10.364. Do not you see that the guaranteed prices 

 for this year are fixed already, and we have nothing 

 to do with this year. We have to find a price for 

 1930 to advise the Government on, and advise them as 

 to what is to be done in future years; and my 

 question now is directed to 1920? You would be 

 perfectly right in taking the hay at from 12 to 14 

 a ton in that way. 



10.365. Do you mean at the sale price or consuming 

 price? The gale price is just the consuming price. 



10.366. Is that the general practice in Scotland P 

 I think so. 



10.367. Because the consuming price in England 

 is taken at a good deal less than the sale price? I 

 do not see why it should. The price of hay is what 

 you can get for it in the market, and I think you are 

 entitled to take the market price. 



10.368. It is only a method of calculation. If you 

 get the profit on the hay you get less profit on the 

 animals that eat it? You have to take it as a whole. 



10.369. At any rate, you think the present price of 

 hay is at 12 to 14 a ton? I do. 



10.370. Therefore, the cost of growing wheat next 

 year, will be correspondingly increased? Yes. 



10.371. I understood you to say you gave your horses 

 a stone of oats a day? Yes. 



10.372. Is that usual all over Scotland? I think so. 

 I think they possibly get a little more than that ; but 

 there is some time in the year, the summer time, 

 in which the horses run to grass. 



10.373. I was going to suggest they would not get 

 anything like a stone in the summer" time? They do 

 not, but they get more in the winter time 



10.374. Therefore, it averages out to a stone? Yes. 



10.375. At what price? 50s. a quarter for oats, 

 that is 336 Ibs. (Jfr. M ererr) : The period at which 

 horses run to grass in Scotland is much shorter, I 

 think, than it i& in the South. 



10.376. What would it be in Scotland? IT we pet 

 them out for six w^eks, that is a long time. We 

 seldom get them out for as much. 



10.377. What period would that be? (Mr. Armour) : 

 June and July I think you might put it. 



10.378. I will ask you one question about your 

 wages. Yon told me that the wages for your plmiph- 

 men prior to the war, in 1913 I think you gave us, 

 and I suppose the were the same in 1914. were 1 a 

 week ? Yes. 



10.379. Were the extras added on to that? Yes, 

 there have been regular rises since that dnte. 



10.380. I am asking you about 1914. prior to the 

 war. You say 1 a week for the ploughman. What 

 extras had he? The same extras. 



10.381. What wen- they? -He had a house and his 

 harvest allowance. 



10.382. What was the harvest allowance then? It 

 was 10. 



10.383. And that has remained the same? That 

 remains tho same. 



10.384. He had 10 harvest allowance and so tunny 

 potatoes. 



10.385. Mr. 7>unran: It is 1 per man you mean. 

 is not it? Yes. 



10.386. 10 for the whole of the men? Yes. 



10.387. Mr. Cniittry. T am speaking of each man. 

 He had a 1 a week wage, and he got 1 for harvest? 



?. 



10.388. Then he had his house?- Yes, a free house. 



10.389. That is worth about 4s. a week you said? 

 Yes, about 4s. a week. 



10.300. And he had potatoes? He had 8 cwts. of 

 potatoes. 



10.301. How many hours a week did ho work then? 

 They worked about 10 hours a day. Tho Saturday 



afternoon holiday was gradually beginning to come 

 in at that time. 



10,392. T was asking you how many hours a week 

 he worked? 60. 



10.30.3. Mr. Duncan says plus his stable work in 

 addition? Quite. 



10.394. And the wages to-day you said were 4-i '? 



