KOYAL COMM1 <s u.liln l.TI UK. 



34 Stpumbrr, 1919.] 



MR. JAMBS DONALDSON. 



[Continual 



consideration those who are employed in agriculture, 

 and by employment I mean the farmer and the 

 labourer. 



H,0o7. A* part of the nation:' Yes, aa part of 

 the nation. 



ll.Our 1 want to ask your opinion nbout a national 

 problem which seems to mo of tome importance. Is 

 theru in your opinion any danger that if we encour- 

 age corn production we may discourage milk produc- 

 tion:' A representative of the Ministry of Food told 

 us the other day that they were not troubled about 

 i. .in Mini' they could gut il from abroad but that 

 they were anxious about the national milk supplies 

 since we are practically dependent for our milk 

 upon that which is produced at homer' I do not 

 think so. Your arable land will produce more milk. 

 An acre of arable land will produce more milk than 

 an acre of pasture. That would not enter into my 

 mind. 



11.669. Do you think there is sufficient experience 

 in thu agricultural i-umnuinity of arable milk pi 

 tionr 1 Mot at the present moment; but that would 

 come very rapidly; it is coming now. 



11.670. But might not high prices for cereals pre- 

 vent that use of the arable land- Thu only way 1 

 can think of milk production falling below the re- 

 quirement of the nation would be a price being 

 given for milk which is too low. 



11.671. But if the prices for cereals were so high 

 and milk prices were relatively low!' Yes; but I do 

 not think that is ever likely to occur. You have the 

 whole of the world producing cereals, but you have 

 only our limited part here producing milk. Milk 

 will always maintain the standard. I think that 

 whatever milk is required you will find it in the 

 British Isles. I should not be at all afraid of that 

 matter. 



11,072. Then, if 1 may go a little further into a 

 question that Sir William Ashley asked you, in para- 

 graph 12 of your pricis you say: " It can only be a 

 Question of time before war markets break." You 

 do not mean by that, do you, that you really expect 

 the price of corn to come down to anything approach- 

 ing the pre-war level:' Not at present. J tnink my 

 answer is the answer I gave to another question with 

 regard to what would be my attitude as to next year. 

 If everything were left free I should be inclined to 

 accept it; but undoubtedly the trend of prices would 

 be downward. I am speaking personally now. 



11.673. Do you think there is any likelihood of tho 

 prices of cereals coming down to anything like the 

 ngure obtainable before the war? I do. 



11.674. Not within any period which it would be 

 possible for this Commission to recommend as the 

 period during which there should be a guarantee? 

 In considering a question of this description you have 

 to take a very broad outlook; and 1 think the 



tlook you require would be almost too broad for 

 me to go into, because you have so many countries 

 involved in this with regard to production. Then 

 you have other matters, such as labour and ships 



do not think 1 should bo prepared to go into the 

 question as broad-mindedly as you would ask me 

 to do. 



11,676. 1 am anxious to find out how far the various 



x>rs which affect the question had been considered 



by you, and your Committee, when this statement 



about the future prices was made:' I have heard the 



opinion expressed that within five years, in all 



probabihty wo might come back to pre-war prices. 



On tho other hand, I have had mon who stated that 



cannot take place in that time. We have had a 



Uoraont made by an eminent statistician a little 



, TM u I I M u V0r >' i8r S amou "t f wheat 

 being held back ; and where that has gone I do not 

 know It wa. quoted in the papers. It was said that 

 it would come bark on the market and be dumped. 

 W. do not know whore that wheat has gone, or whether 

 ".I" e , x " >l<>nc V **; but those are factors which 



I"*' giving J ' U an "P** t> P' niun 

 with regard to the matter. 



11,070. Your fnion is really rather deterred by the 

 uncertainties of tho position, than confident that the 

 price, will come down?-That is to. We are deterred 

 by the uncertainty. 



11.077. You are aware, 1 suppose, that most of what 



.1,1, ili,- virgin soils of the new world are virgin no 



Vut; but 1 know tli, hers coming in. 



11,678. Is not it within your knowledge that supplies 

 of foreign corn from these other countries of which 

 you speak a* coming in have now to be sought further 

 aiield, lor example, in Australia 'e That may be. 



11,07!'. Hi. a iiu aim, does it not, a longer and won 

 costly voyage.' Un the other hand, I think you are 

 going to get supplies nearer home. Take, for instance, 

 Mesopotamia and the development of Syria. You 

 have to take a broad outlook when you begin on this. 



IJ.tJM'. But ut present it looks as if we were forced 

 to seek our supplies at a great distance, and that 

 mean.-, u greater cost, does not il'f---l think 1 have 

 stated already that there are possibilities, but 1 do 

 not think for a moment that Russia, for instance, has 

 come up to her limit of production. 



11,681. But are not you aware that before the war 

 Germany was taking for her own needs a very large 

 and increasing proportion of tho Russian supply: 

 Yes; and that was being met by the Russian supply, 

 but it did not show much diminution of the K 

 supply here. 



11,082. Would you agree with me that besides tho 

 length of the voyage there are other factors which 

 look as if they were going to keep up the price of 

 imported commodities, such as, for instance, the rate 

 of exchange, increased wages of shipbuilders, seamen, 

 and dock labourers, and the rise in the pri 

 which not only increases the cost of building ships but 

 also increases the cost of running them, because 

 it means that the price of bunker is higher ': But 

 you are pro-supposing in that question that the pre- 

 sent prices for all those things are going to remain. 

 I say, in my opinion, they are not going to remain. 

 \Viih regard to the rate of exchange, there you have 

 the most uncertain factor in the world. It is a strong 

 point in the farmer's case to raise more stuff here with 

 regard to the rate of exchange, because on every 

 quarter of wheat you buy in America the rate of ex- 

 change stands to-day at 17s. I'd. against 1. It is a 

 very strong feature for the farmer's production of 

 more stuff. 



11,683. Yes. But apart from the rate of exchange, 

 you say that in agriculture war costs are likely in 

 a large measure to be permanent? Yes. 



11 084. Surely that will apply also in great measure 

 to shipbuilding and the cost of running ships? No. 

 What wan in our minds when we put forward those 

 ideas, 1 think, was this: wo did not want, and we 

 hoped that labour would never come back to the low 

 level of pre-war prices. 



11.685. But are you not also aware that there has 

 been a rise in wages in other industries besides agri- 

 culture? Yes, I am quite cognisant of that. 



11.686. And yet you think tlieir costs of production 

 are likely to come down and their wages likely to 

 diminish? 'Yes; because I say previous to the war 

 and at the commencement of the war, we were not 

 paying wages commensurate with what men would 

 have made in the town. That is my personal opinion, 

 and I have stated it again and again here. 



11.687. But why do you think that wages in other 

 industries, as for instance, shipbuilding, and the 

 wages of dock labourers, aro more likely t<> Tall in ili, 

 near future than tho wages of agricultural labourers? 

 Because I take it that they had a fair wage before, 

 which agriculture had not. I really cannot argue 

 for other industries. I can only speak for my own. 



ll.ti^S. I was only trying to linil out how fai 

 had considered these various factors before you made 

 this statement? You see how I have considered them. 



11.689. With regard to the general question of 

 policy, you agreed, I think, that tho question must 

 bo answered with reference to the interests of the 

 nation as a whole, and not with any view to profit to 

 any particular class? Yes. 



11.690. Would you agree with me that the interests 

 of the nation in tho present economic situation re- 

 quire that everything possible should be done to in- 

 crease the national wealth? Yes; and by doing this. 

 1 think yon will IB' helping to in, n aso the national 

 wealth, because one of the problems, as I have pointed 

 out, will be solved, that we would grow more ourselves 



