MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



107 



24 September, 1919.] 



MR. JAMES WYLLIE. 



[Continued. 



to digest this mass of material that has been put 

 before me, and certain impressions appear to have 

 been made on my mind. I should like your opinion as 

 to whether these impressions are correct or not. 

 You, I think, are the first costings expert that has 

 been before us. First of all, these records and 

 estimates appear to me to demonstrate the great 

 variation of farming results not only in districts far 

 removed from each other, but also in contiguous 

 districts and in relation to farms with similar soils 

 and climate? That is so. 



12.185. Taking the bearing of that on our business, 

 if we take district by district, removed from each 

 other, and take the best results as our basis, it 

 appears to me clear that the areas which show poor 

 results will go out of cultivation altogether? I 

 agree. 



12.186. Assuming, of course, that the prices that 

 are suggested will come into operation? Yes. 



12.187. Taking the districts with the poorest results 

 as our basis, it is on the other hand clear that the 

 farmer in those districts which show better results 

 will make very big profits and that high rents will 

 be charged for his land at the expense of the State? 

 Why not tax him on his profits? 



12.188. That is another matter, but you will agree 

 that that result will f ollow ? Yes. 



12.189. Taking the other case of farms which are 

 close together and are farmed under similar con- 

 ditions, and which also show great variations 

 it appears to me there must be some reason for those 

 variations of which no hint is given in these returns? 

 You are speaking now of a particular district? 



12.190. Yes. Assuming you have two farms side by 



side, in which you have very different results, these 

 returns appear to me to give no hint whatever to 

 account for the varying results? May 1 point just 

 as an example to the 1918 crops of wheat where on 

 one farm the costs were taken out for three 

 different kinds of soil. On the heavy soil the cost 

 was 16 3s. per acre, and on the light soil it was 

 only 12 3s. per acre, showing a difference of 4 

 per acre, so that under the same management and the 

 same efficiency with regard to manuring, and so on, 

 there is a difference of 4 per acre on account of the 

 soil only. That is one factor which accounts for the 

 difference in the results in other farms in the same 

 district. 



12.191. Would you agree with another impression 

 which has been made upon my mind, that the personal 

 factor has very much to do with these results? I 

 am very certain that the personal element is ex- 

 tremely important. 



12.192. If we take a farm in a district giving poor 

 results as our basis, two things appear to me to 

 follow ; first, the good farmer in that district would 

 have big profits, and, secondly, the poor farmer for 

 personal reasons, through not exerting himself, or 

 through ignorance or what not, would be given a 

 premium, as it were, on his lack of industry or lack 

 of knowledge, or for some other reason? I should say 

 that the ideal would be to fix prices in such a way 

 that the poorest class of farmers would be driven 

 to the wall altogether. 



12.193. And the poorest class of land? The poorest 

 class of land in many cases also would have to go the 

 same way. 



Chairman: We are much obliged to you. 



(The Witncu withdrew.) 



Mr. WILLIAM EDWAKI. ATTENBOROOGH, N.F.U., Called and Examined. 



12,194. Chairman : The Commission desired to cross- 

 examine you on the figures that you have submitted 

 to the Farmers' Union in respect of your farm, which 

 i think is Farm No. 5* in the statement which has 

 been submitted to us my Mr. Wyllie;-- > , 



13,196, Mr. .Inker BMMMM: Dealing with your 



12.208. What do you do with your third course; 

 you cannot have the whole of your third course in 

 with clovers and seeds, can you? Yes. 



12.209. Not with clovers?- Yes. 



12.210. Do you grow clovers every five years? Yes 

 I have done it for 28 years. I grow a mixture. Thii 



., ---_. ujvi ^7 \t\JU*J IV 1V/1 *ij Trt I O. i I'lVSW 4.1 III I A VI I I IT. J. 11 LD 



- account, according to your figures you class of land will not grow broad clover every 5 years. 

 make out the cost of keeping a horse as 7s. 3d. per '< -*r-~ ..._ , 



day ? Yes. 



12.196. I have not had time to make tho calcula- 

 tion. Is that for the whole year or only for the 200 

 working days'upon which your horses worked? It is 

 only for the 200 working days. 



12.197. Charging nothing for the other days? That 

 is in respect of the 200 profitable working" days. 



12.198. I see you allow your horses 14 Ibs. weight 

 of oats in addition to 4 Ibs. of bran per day? Yes. 



12.199. That strikes me as being rather a heavy 

 allowance, is it not? N'o, not in my case; I work my 

 horses very hard. 



12.200. Is yours three horse land? Yes. AVhat 

 these figures are based upon is three horse land. 



12.201. Practically, you allow your horses very close 

 on three bushels of oats a week? If you reckon it 

 so. It is 14 Ibs. per day ; I have not reckoned it out 

 in bushels. 



12.202. Dealing with tho cost of production of 

 wheat, do you mean the Commission to understand 

 that 15 19s. 4d. should bo taken as a fair average 

 cost of the production of wheat on the second course 

 as stated here? Those are my actual costs. 



12.203. To get an average yield of 4^ quarters? 

 Yes. on that particular crop. 



12,201. What quantity of straw would you grow 

 there? That varies according to tho year. 



12.205. Yes, but if your a>-Tage yield is 4J quarters, 

 we might take it, I suppose, that your straw would 

 not i, li-ss than 27 or 28 cwts.? I could not tell you; 

 I have never weighed my straw; we consume it all. 



12.206. You never sell any straw? No. We grow 

 a great deal of straw on tho dead fallow crop, as a 

 i ill" 



call 



12.207. Your system of farming is what we 

 a five field ronrsw? Y. 



* Appendix No. IV. 



12.211. You cannot grow sanfoin? No. 



12.212. Do you grow lucerne? No. 



12.213. Going back to the first crop of wheat after 

 the bare fallow, is_ there no manuring there? No, 

 not on bare fallow. 



12.214. You charge rent and rates each year? Yes. 



12.215. What about roots? I do not grow any roots 

 on this class of land. I occasionally grow mangolds, 

 but they are on a separate basis altogether. This is 

 worked absolutely separately. 



12.216. What is the acreage of this field? My total 

 acreage of this class of land is 180 



12.217. Is the remainder of your farm of a different 

 type? I beg your pardon, it is 180 acres luuvy land 

 and 78 acres light land. 



12.218. You have not given us any figures with 

 regard to the light land? No. 



12.219. So that practically the part of the farm 

 with which you have given us your figures is the 

 most expensive part in regard to its working? - I 

 have not gone into that; this is the cost of the 

 working of this land. 



12.220. Is this an estimated cost? No, it is actual. 



12.221. When you say actual do you mean to say 

 you keep an account as to how many days the horses 

 were at work, and charge so much a day for the 

 horses and so much a day for the men? When you 

 say actual in what way is it actual? If you notice, 

 the number of horses is given and the number of men 

 is given, and the amount of work done and the cost 

 per acre. With regard to the number of working 

 days in the case of horse labour, that of course is 

 more or less of an estimate, but it is an estimate 

 which if it errs at all it certainly errs on the right 

 side ; tho horses certainly do no more than that. 



12.222. Y'ou mean to say that for one third of the 

 year your horses are idle?- I thought there were 

 365 days in ihc year. 



