MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



105) 



24 September, 1919.] 



MR. WILLIAM EDWARD ATTENBOROUGH. 



[Continued. 



12,209. A Ib. less of oats a day will make a big 

 difference in the total? Some days they will eat 

 more and some days less. That is the ration which 

 is weighed out to my man every week, he uses that 

 as he likes. 



12,270. You do not grow any roots, do you? Yes, 

 a great many. 



12,271-2. Not on this heavy land? I grow mangolds 

 on it sometimes. 



12.273. Not in 1919 to which the figures relate? 

 No; there are no mangolds whatever on this land. 



12.274. What would the horses be doing say be- 

 tween the 1st of May and the 1st August bef'des 

 cutting these 36 acres of clover seeds? Cleaning the 

 fallows. 



12.275. Thirty-six acres of fallows and 36 acres 

 of clover seeds? I am sorry to say that some of the 

 fallows we did not get up; we had to have steam 

 cultivation to get them up. 



12.276. You have three or four months in the 

 summer when the horses are not doing anything 

 except turning fallows and cutting clover and hay? 

 Our horses never l : e idle when the weather allows 

 us to work them. 



12.277. Yet you have 100 days on which they do 

 nothing? We always work them when it is fit to 

 work them. 



12.278. Surely these are the best days of the year 

 for working? ^Certainly. 



12.279. Is this summer ration fed to the horses? 

 Actually in fact we are now feeding the winter 

 ration, "and have been doing BO for considerably more 

 than a month. 



12.280. With good strong cart horses weighing 

 about 15 cwts. each, and fed well, do you actually 

 mean to say with four horses on the plough you 

 cannot plough more than half an acre of land a day? 

 Yes, they will not plough more. 



12.281. There is nothing wrong with the manage- 

 ment, is there? Possibly. I am not supposed to 

 be a judge of that. 



12.282. Or that two good heavy well-fed horses 

 turning fallows will not plough more than three- 

 quarters of an acre a day. Do you not think it is 

 possible they would plough an acre? Possibly you 

 might, hut my men do not ; there is only half an acre 

 allowed for the first ploughing. 



12.283. The wear and tear of implements runs 

 through this statement at 10s. the acre? Yes. 



12,2*4. Is that based upon actual bills? Yea. 



12.285. It is rather clear it does not run into 

 pence when yon divide the bills by the number of 

 acres? I did not think it was worth while to go 

 into pence in coming before a Commission of this 

 description. 



12.286. So that if it worked out at 9s. 3d. you 

 would put down 10.? Certainly not: I should put 

 down 9s. ; that is how my costs are based. 



12.287. You have a valuation and a careful record. 

 What is the value of the implements per acre? 1 

 have not gone into that. 



12.288. What is the total value of the implements ? 

 That will appear in my balance sheet. 



12.289. Mr. Green: You say these are actual 

 charges. In estimating the establishment charges 

 such as hedges, ditches, unprofitable work and wet 

 tim", what principle did you go upon in 

 differentiating the cost between the hedging and the 

 ditching and the unprofitable work and the wet 

 time. How did .you work that out in detail ? I 

 worked it out as closely as I possibly could having 

 regard to the number of wet days and the unprofit- 

 able work and the amount of hedging and ditching 

 done and so forth. There are a great many items 

 that are not entered there, and so forth. Those are 

 the main items as near as I can possibly get at them. 

 I do not ask this Commission to say that 1 an acre 

 is the actual amount, but it is as near as I can 

 possibly get at it. 



12.290. Mr. .7. M. Jlrmlrrxon: These figures of 

 yours do not cover the whole acreage of your farm? 

 These figures refer to the working of the 180 acres 

 of heavy land. 



12.291. You do not give us any account of the other 

 part of your farm ? No. 



12,293. You have altogether 515 acres f Yes. 



12.293. I see you charge for bird scaring 2s. 6d. 

 an acre on this 180 acres? Yes, now it costs me more 

 than that. 



12.294. If it costs you more why do you not put 

 down all it costs you? One cannot put down the 

 actual cost of bird scaring, because it depends upon 

 the season it depends upon how long the corn is 

 growing. If this Commission suggests that bird 

 scaring is unnecessary I could suggest another 

 remedy. 



12.295. I am not suggesting anything of the kind. 

 You get an average yield of 4^ quarters, but you do 

 not tell us what the last crop fetched. I suppose you 

 will show us that in your balance sheet? The 1919 

 crop is not sold, but it is not 4 quarters. 



12.296. What is it? I cannot tell you anything 

 from 3$. 



12.297. According to your figures, if it is only 3^ 

 quarters you will make a loss. Is that so? Yes. 



12.298. Are you one of those gentlemen who have a 

 balance sheet to produce to us later on? I have a 

 balance sheet, which is in the hands of the National 

 Farmers' Union. 



12.299. You are going to hand it to them? It has 

 been handed to them. 



12.300. Mr. Prosser Jones: Have you tried tractors 

 with which to plough this land? Yes, occasionally, 

 when I cannot do it with horses. 



12.301. It has been successful? When the weather 

 is absolutely perfect. 



12.302. What number of horses do you keep on this 

 farm ? Ten. 



12.303. Five hundred and fifteen acres? Two hun- ' 

 dred and fifty-seven arable. 



12.304. The horses have something to do on the rest 

 of the farm, have they not? A certain amount; not 

 very much. 



12.305. Is this 17s. 6d. for rent and rates typical 

 of the rents charged in Leicestershire? I do not 

 know ; that is my rent. 



12.306. You will admit it is a low rent, will you 

 not? I do not admit anything; it is the market 

 value of the land, I take it. 



12.307. What number of men have you got on this 

 farm? I work four men and a boy to the 100 acres 

 of arable land. 



12.308. Do you know all the men that you have? 

 Yes. 



12.309. Do you see them frequently? I have never 

 had a foreman yet since I have been in business; I 

 have been in business for 28 years. 



12.310. How do you find these men are performing 

 their work at the present time? Very well. I have 

 no fault to find with them, with this exception, that 

 the skilled men are getting scarcer. 



12.311. Do they live in cottages of their own or do 

 they live in the farm house? Three of them live in 

 cottages on my farm, the rest come from adjoining 

 villages. 



12.312. None of them come from your house? No. 



12.313. Mr. Langford : This is very heavy land, is 

 it not? Yes, heavy three horse land. 



12.314. It is absolutely necessary to fallow it one 

 year in each course of five years? Absolutely, in my 

 opinion. 



12.315. So that the profits derived from the four 

 succeeding crops have to be averaged over the five 

 years? Yes. 



12.316. In your first crop of wheat after fallow, 

 assuming that you got \\ quarters of wheat and sold 

 that wheat at 80s. a quarter, which, of course, is 

 higher than the price obtainable to-day, I work it 

 out that you would get a profit of 2 Os. 8d. and the 

 straw on that year's crop? Yes. 



12.317. Coming along to the next course of seeds, 

 you say you grow an average crop of 25 cwt. to the 

 acre? Yes. 



12.318. You could sell that at 8 a ton and you 

 would make a profit of 2 7s. 4d. on that crop. 

 Coming along to the next crop of wheat, the average 

 falls to 32 bushels in the fourth course, I see? Yes. 



12.319. If you sold that at 80s. a quarter, you would 

 make a profit of 1 7s. 2d. and the straw on that 

 year's working? -Yes. 



