

KOYAL COMMISSION ON AOUICULTUKK. 



, 1919.] 



MR. JAMES DONALDSON. 



[Continual. 



\l.-">y2. How many quarters to the sere can ili<-y 

 produce t 1 do nut know; but Denmark is not quite 

 iirciiuibtiincod as we are, is itP 



11,593. The ground is not any better; but 1 am 

 asking you about the production. You do not know? 

 1 do not know. 1 do not think it is quite fair 

 tj compare Denmark with England. 



11,684. AB you do not know, 1 do not see how you 

 can make that comment. You say that the war 

 prices will drop. You are pretty confident of that, 

 are you not!' 1 think everyone should be. 



11.595. What are your grounds for that? I have 

 already stated them. 



11.596. 1 want to put it a little further. Are you 

 aware that an enormous quantity of the land of 

 America which produced freely, now requires fer- 

 tilisers to make it produce anything like a payable 

 quantity t Quite. 



11,697. So that that is a part of competition which 

 goes away!' Yes, but we have others coming in, as 

 I hare already pointed out. 



11.598. Are you aware of this, that a great many 

 of the countries in the East which were rice-eating 

 countries have, in the last recent years, become 

 wheat-eating countries? I am also aware of that. 



11.599. That is a fact on the other side. If you 

 have prices coming down of wheat and so forth 

 owing to this competition, you have, on the other 

 hand, the fact that fertilisers will come down? On 

 the other hand if you are assured that prices are not 

 going down, then it is quite easy to give us the 

 guarantee. The guarantee will involve nothing if 

 you are quite sure prices are not going down. 



11.600. That was what took place last year, w;is 

 it not? I think so. I do not think the guarantee- 

 will be operative this year. 



11.601. Then why do you ask for it? Because it 

 is something to go upon because you have not got 

 that decrease in prices yet. That is my answer. 



11,062. Do you not see that if you give a guarantee 

 where no guarantee is ever required, when the time 

 comes later on it will be the foundation for pure 

 protection? But we, as practical men, think the 

 time is coming when if you insist on a certain mode 

 of cultivation, a guarantee will be required. 



11.603. That is your view? That is my view. 



11.604. Not this year perhaps, or next? I have 

 already said about the long view. 



11.605. How long for 10 years? I should say 8 

 or 10 years for the short view. 



11.606. Has your I'nion formed any idea of what 

 that means with the prices perhaps breaking to 60s. 

 with a guarantee of 70s. Have you any idea what it 

 is going to cost the Nation? I have no idea what 

 the guarantee may bo at all, and I do not know what 

 the prices may be fixed at; but, according to you. 

 as the prices are fixed, so should the prices of labour 

 be. 



11.607. _Never mind labour for tho moment. What 

 I am trying to get a* is your view and the view of 

 your Union, because what you are proposing is a 

 very serious matter. You stated just now to Mr. 

 Cautley that the Prime Minister gave you what you 

 considered a promise, and I understand that is 76e., 

 or something like it, is it not? Yes. 



11, BOH. Supposing they continue that with your 

 long view of 10 yearn, and the open market drops to 

 60s., and the Government or the nation have to pay 

 you 15s. per quarter for every quarter of wheat, have 

 you nny notion of what that tax would amount to? 

 -That is a matter of policy again. 



11,609. It is a matter of fact and figures? No; 

 that will be spokon to when tho mattor of policy is 

 brought Wore you. 



'. MT. T)i.m Hrnilmnn: Did I understand 

 you to wiv that your labour cost was about 40 per 

 rent, of the total expenditure? Yes, that is what we 

 Uko tho average to he. 



11.011. In Uiat hiwd on your own costing figures? 

 At near a* may bo. I have a small typical farm. 

 -.in,, figures submitted by the Cost- 

 ings (Vwnmitteo Knowing a total expenditure of 

 .110.- in II,. labour cost of that was 11?: 

 r.tW IMH than a quarter, 34-6 par cent.P I think 



it you will address that question to Mr. Wyllie he 

 nil! be able to enlighten you on the matter. 



11,613. You ore only basing it on your own particu- 

 lar farm? Yes, my own idea. 



11,014. In the last sentence of paragraph 11 you 

 say " The nation would lose heavily in output at a 

 i mi., when home production is the thing most needed 

 for national rehabilitation." What, exactly, is in 

 your mind when you make that statement!' That is 

 with regard to premising that wo have a healthier 

 population in the country, which seems to be debated 

 here, than there is in the towns. 



11.615. Then your next Clause is simply the am- 

 plification of that. I thought there was an anti- 

 thesis in your mind here? I do not think so. 



11.616. You are simply referring to production of 

 men? Yes, I think that is what is meant there. 



11.617. And nothing else? No. 



11.618. hi paragraph 8 you refer to certain success- 

 ful fanners who, by improved methods of various 

 kinds, were ablo, by taking a small acreage profit, 

 to farm successfully. Have you any figures relative 

 to the output during the depression? No, I have 

 no figures. 



11.619. It is simply a personal opinion? It is 

 simply a personal opinion. 



11.620. Air. Prosser Jonri : You are representing 

 80,000 members? Yes. 



11.621. What proportion would that number be of 

 the farmers in England and Wales? I do not think 

 it would bo more than a third. Roughly speaking, it 

 would be about a third. 



11.622. And any benefit that accrues to the third 

 would also accrue to the two-thirds? Yes, I should 

 hope so. 



'11,623. And, in a sense, you are speaking for those 

 who are outside the Union? As well. I am speaking 

 for the whole of the Agriculture of England. 



11.624. How do you justify your application for 

 a guarantee, in view of other industries, that are 

 hardly paying their way at the present time and have 

 had to carry on? I think the whole body of this 

 is against that idea. We say we can carry on without 

 a guarantee; but we say we cannot do it as the 

 Government wish us to do it perhaps. The whole 

 body of this goes on to say that we can carry on 

 without a guarantee if you leave us to our own 

 devices ; but if you wish us to farm in a certain way 

 and you decide it is in the national interest to do 

 BO, then we should ask for a guarantee, or something 

 in the nature of that. 



11.625. You will agree with mo that there are other 

 industries quite as ricky as agriculture?! cannot 

 speak for other industries. I must only speak for 

 my own. 



ll.ii'Jfi. But what I wanted to find out was, what 

 MS you had as an industry for asking for pre- 

 ferential treatment ? --Because we say we have been 

 interfered with. We are being interfered with now. 

 We are being asked to do a certain thing whirli, if 

 left to our own devices, we would not do. 



11,626A. I will put it in this way. If you had 

 your choice for the coming year, to be left alone 

 and do as you liked on your farms, or to have a 

 guarantee, what would be your policy in that case:- 

 For next year alone? 



11.627. For any year:- Personally, as a farmer, I 

 would be -inclined to take the risk for next year 

 alone. I am not speaking for the Union now; but 

 you ask me for my opinion, :md I will give you my 

 opinion. Give me a free hand. 



11.628. You have not had tho opinion of your 

 Union, I take it? 1 am shaking personally. 



11.629. Is there any likelihood of your being able 

 to retain ti '<s of men on the farms while the 

 wages in other industries are considerably higher? 

 That is what I want to see. I want to see us able 

 to |>iit our labourers on 1he same basis as the men 

 employed in the towns would require. That ts exactly 

 what I want to see. 



11.630. You could not toll us lion- this 40 per rent 

 expended on labour compared with tho amount ex- 

 pended on labour in other districts? No Perhaps 

 if you address that question to Mr. Wyllia lie will be 

 able to inform you. 



