MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



24 September, 1919.] 



MR. JOHN WILLIAM DOTJTHWAITE. 



[Continued. 



familiar with the mechanism? There is no doubt, 1 

 think, it will get simpler and more reliable as time 

 goes on. 



12,o24. No; I meaii, supposing the machine itself was 

 not simpler, would not the men get a better :doa as 

 to how to manage a difficult machine ? Yes ; but they 

 would not prevent it breaking down. Littlo parts 

 break down, and the ignition goes wrong, and so on. 



12,o2o. But that can very often be quickly remedied 

 by a man who has some idea of mechanics ? Yes, very 

 often. 



12,626. You get a breakdown with a tractor, and a 

 man who is not very familiar with mechanics stops, 

 and then you go along and you find there is something 

 wrong which you cannot trace; whereas when a man 

 who does know is sent for he puts it right in a couple 

 of. minutes very often? It often happens so. 



12,637. That is what I meant. Would not it simplify 

 it, and make it a more valuable asset to a farmer, 

 always remembering that he must have some horses? 

 Yes. 



12.628. But that the tractor, as the men get a better 

 knowledge of it, will become i far greater advantage 

 to the farm than it has been up to the present ? Yes, 

 I quite think so. 



12.629. J/r. Lennard: What sort of land is your 

 farm? It is what is called stone brash, light land. 



12.630. There is a good deal of that in Oxfordshire, 

 I think? Yes. 



1^,031. That land feels a dry season especially, does 

 it not? Not very badly; not so badly as a sandy 

 land for instance. . 



12.632. But a great deal more than other soils in 

 Oxfordshire? A good deal more than some soils. 



12.633. For instance, the ironstone country in the 

 north, or the Oxford clay? I cannot say I know much 

 about them really. 



12.634. Is your farm near the Cotswolds? It is 

 not far from the C'otswolds. 



12,'i.Vi. Mr. Green: The only thing I want to ask 

 you is this: You describe your farm as typical 

 barley soil, do you not? Yes. 



12.636. You seem to have rather a low average for 

 barley, do you in a:- 'i 



12.637. Why is it described as tvpical barley soil? 

 It grows nice quality liarlfy. fmt us tlip figure 

 shows, it does not grow big crops, in fact it does 

 not grow big crops of anything. 



12.638. No ; it is rather a low productive farm all 

 through, is it not? Yea. 



12.639. Mr. Edioardt : You mentioned just now 

 about the management and the sons' work, and the 

 addition made in respect of those. Do your sons 

 work on the farm!' Tliev do. 



12.640. And you have not charged anything for 

 them? No, I have not. 



12,641 Is it a common practice in your district that 

 the sons and daughters of the farmers work on the 

 farm ? Yes. 



12,042. And no wages are actually paid them? 

 I cannot speak for other cases at all. I do not know 

 what other farmers may do. 



12.643. What is your own practice? Do you 

 actually pay your sons? No. I do not pay them. Of 

 course, they are only young. One is 16 and the 

 uther is 19. Of course, as they get a bit older, they 

 hope the old man will be able to put them into a 

 farm ; but the question is whether I shall be able to. 



12.644. I am interested in this, for this reason: 

 that I myself know what it is to work from about 

 1.5 to 25 without seeing a penny in wages, and what 

 I wanted to know was whether that practice is 

 general all over thf country, of working the farms at 

 the expenso of the sons and daughters in this way? 

 I could not really >ny. Of course you can hardly 

 call it at tho expend of the sons and daughters, 

 if the father sin cods in his business and gets them 

 into a farm at about 1~> to 26. That is their pay. 



mt it is not their expense if they have helped 

 the work of gntting a hit of capital to take a farm. 

 Of course if success does not come, it is at their 

 expense. If the father, say, cannot get on and 

 breaks or fails, then it is hard on the sons. 



19.645. Have von romp across ca:-es of that kind 

 on a farma family affair, having two, three, or 



26831 



four sons working on the farm, and the concern 

 failing arid these sons having to turn out into the 

 world without anything? No, I cannot say I know 

 a case like that. Of course the son takes more 

 interest thau a paid man does, and they generally 

 manage to succeed. 



12.646. Mr. Duncan: At what rate have you esti- 

 mated your sons' labour in the additions that have 

 been made to your accounts? As I said, in reply to 

 another question just now, those figures have 'been 

 added on. 



12.647. And you do not know the rate? As you 

 see in the words at the top, I have made no allow- 

 ance for my sons or interest or management in my 

 figures. My figures on that account, taking the 

 cost of growing 100 acres of wheat finish at a total 

 of 935 7s. 5d. 



12.648. And you do not know at what rate your 

 figures have been accounted? No. 



12.649. Do you know the rate at which the manage- 

 ment has been added? No, I do not. 



12.650. When you bought the tractor, what class of 

 man did you employ for working it? A man who 

 had been driving a steam engine, the most intelligent 

 man I had got. 



12.651. Was he a practical ploughman? Yes. 



12.652. Had he had any experience of internal com- 

 bustion engines before? No. There were very few 

 countrymen had then. This was in January, 1916, 

 when I first had the tractor. 



12.653. Do you find the cost of running the tractor 

 tends to decrease as the man gets more expert? With 

 the " Overtime " I do not think so, but with the 

 " Titan " I do think so. The " Titan " is more 

 reliable and less costly for repairs and upkeep, as far 

 as I can gather at present. 



12.654. Do you think the " Titan " suits your type 

 of land better than the " Overtime " ? I do not say 

 it suits my type of land better than the " Overtime," 

 but it is more reliable in itself. 



12.655. Is it a question of power? No; the " Over- 

 time " is the stronger, if anything. 



12.656. Is your farm at Charlbury? Yes, near 

 Charlbin-y. 



12.657. Which side does it lie? Almost due east. 



12.658. Is this fairly good stone brash? Useful 

 stone brash medium. 



12.659. ^Vhat is the farm rotation? Is your rota- 

 tion very similar to the other rotations on the stone 

 brash? -Yes, I expect we do pretty much about the 

 same; but I keep no fixed rotation at all. I grow 

 what I want. 



12.660. You do not follow it closely ? No, I do not. 



12.661. Do you have any trouble with clover, Ac.? 

 Yes, if we try it too often, we do. 



12,662 And rye-grass, I presume? I do not grow 

 rye-grass. 



12.663. How often do you get a crop? Seven or 

 eight years. 



12.664. Only about once in eight years? Seven or 

 eight years. 



12.665. Has that been going on for some time? 

 That has been my practice since I have been on this 

 farm. 



12.666. Then you would get two root crops between 

 clover crops, I presume, and five corn crops in eight 

 years; is that it? Something like it, I daresay. 



12.667. Looking at your sheep account, there 

 is a small deficit. Do you normally reckon on 

 having a deficit on your sheep account? We have to 

 take what comes. It is a deficit very often, I am 

 afraid. 



12.668. Would you consider it is quite a common 

 practice of farmers in your part of Oxfordshire to 

 keep your sheep on the roots too long. That is to sav. 

 after they have practically finished fattening? No; 

 they know too much about farming for that. 



12.669. How long would these sheep bo on, prac- 

 tically speaking? These would be on from about 

 Michaelmas to some time in February. 



12.670. They would begin going off about the end 

 of January, and keep on till March? Yes, something 

 like that. 



12.671. But does not it strike you as rather a small 

 sum for the keep ? You bought them in at an average 



H 3 



