MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



27 



6 August, 1919.] 



SIR HENKY REW, K.C.B. 



[Continued. 



520. That is the result of the guarantee. You spoke 

 about potatoes. As a matter of fact, are not potatoes 

 practically the only thing that our land produces that 

 we ever export? No. Our main export, in value at 

 any raite, is pedigree live stock in ordinary times. 



521. I am only speaking of crops. Is not potatoes 

 the only thing that we ever export? We export them 

 occasionally when there happens to be a short crop 

 elsewhere. In one particular year we exported, I 

 think, a substantial quantity to America because 

 there was a very short crop there. 



522. As a matter of fact, when we have a good crop 

 of potatoes here, is not it the fact that we constantly 

 export them to America and elsewhere? I think it is, 

 relatively, a very small proportion. 



523. At any rate, they do not require any guarantee 

 for potatoes? No. 



524. If it can be shown from the accounts that 

 farmers have for the last four or five years made 

 good profits, would it be the policy of the Board to 

 continue this machinery of the guarantee? The policy 

 of Parliament, of course, is to continue the guarantee 

 at the present time up to the year 1922. 



Mr. Cautley: Which guarantee are you referring 

 to? 



Mr. J. M. Henderson: I am speaking of the Corn 

 Production Act guarantee. 



Mr. Cautley: It has not been operative yet. 



525. Mr. J. M. Hendenon: I see in the Scotch 

 Report there is a balance sheet of the dairy stock 

 account in the west of Scotland? Is that the Report 

 of the Scottish Board of Agriculture? 



Chairman : The next witness, who is from the 

 Scottish Board of Agriculture, will deal with that. 



526. Mr. J. M. Henderson : I am only speaking 

 relatively Have you a similar account of dairy stock 

 produce for England? We have the number of cows 

 and heifers. I am not quite sure what the figures you 

 have are. 



527. I only want to know whether you have a similar 

 one for England. I am referring to page 33? This 

 seems to be a leaflet on the cost of production of 

 live stock and dairy produce. I could not tell you 

 off-hand whether we have one exactly similar, but 

 we have a good many like this ; the subject has been 

 dealt with in the Journal and in leaflets of the 

 Board. 



528. If you have anything similar, will you be good 

 enough to let us have it? I will. 



529. Mr. Green : With regard to American com- 

 petition in this country, I understand that farmers, 

 generally, did not take up the use of the self-binder 

 and mowing machine until after 1872. They were in 

 operation in the United States long before that, were 

 they not? Yes. I am not quite sure whether it was 

 1872 or 1874. I think it was first in the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Show about 1874. 



530. I am told that the American farms are now 

 smaller than they used to be; and that the tendency 

 is to approximate to the 200- or 300-acre farms in 

 England rather than the large ones? I should think 

 that is the distinct tendency. 



531 . With regard to the produce, we know that the 

 American average is about 14 bushels to the acre, 

 is not it? I thought it was a little higher than that; 

 but I dare say you have the figure before you. 



532. Can you tell us whether wages there are higher 

 or lower than here? I believe they are higher. 



533. Do you not think that the shipping freights 

 will be much higher than they were before the war? 

 I think they will be higher than they were before. 



534. The cost of steel, iron and insurance will all 

 bo higher? Yes. 



535. A friend told me that he got a quotation for 

 the carriage of wheat from California at a lower price 

 than he could get it down from Norfolk to Ix>ndon in 

 trucks? When? 



536. Before the war. Do you think that at all 

 probable? I should think it is rather an exceptional 

 rase : but it might have been possible. 



537. Ho tells me he can show me figures to that 

 effect. Then with regard to Australian competition. 

 Are wages there higher or lower than here? J am 

 afraid I do not know accurately. I should say they 

 are probably higher. T/nbonr. of course, is very 



there. 



538. And freights will be higher in the future than 

 they have been before the war? .Yes. 



539. Would you say, with your vast experience on 

 the Agricultural Wages Board, and with your know- 

 ledge of prices, that the fixing of prices was at all 

 dependent upon the rate of wages? Do you mean 

 the prices fixed by the Food Controller? 



540. Yes? I imagine the Food Controller, in fixing 

 the maximum prices, had regard to the costs of tho 

 farmer, including the cost of labour. 



541. You think he had? I. assume that. 



542. Ho,w do you account for things like this hap- 

 pening? In 1917, when wheat was about 80s. a quar- 

 ter, wages in some counties were about 13s., 14s., 15s., 

 and 16s. a week. There is no relation between wages 

 and prices? I am not sure that wheat was then at 

 80s. in 1917, was it? 



543. Sir Daniel Hall said so yesterday, and I think 

 he was correct. It was in June and July. Can you 

 explain to us why, for instance, a Sussex shepherd 

 will be getting only 25s. a week and a. Northumber- 

 land shepherd will be getting 40s. a week? Those are 

 instances, if they are correct, of the difference in the 

 rates of wages which prevail in different parts of the 

 country. 



544. Do not you think wages are really a matter of 

 custom rather than of prices of produce on the farms 

 throughout the country? I think custom had, and 

 always has in all agricultural matters, a good deal 

 of influence, but I do not think that is a complete 

 answer. 



545. But that has been largely so in this country, 

 has it not, that custom has ruled? I think if you 

 make a comparison, not between the wage of tho 

 individual labourer but between the total amount of 

 the labour bill on a given acreage, you will find the 

 difference between the underpaid districts and the 

 higher paid districts was considerably reduced. 



546. May we have your opinion as to security of 

 tenure; that is to say, can you explain to us why 

 farmers, who are averse to long leases, I understand, 

 are so averse? I think you should ask the farmer to 

 explain that himself. The psychology of farmers is 

 not always quite clear. 



547. Then with regard to Mr. Langford's very in- 

 teresting questions about experimental or demonstra- 

 tion farms, can you give ue any information about 

 those in Ireland? They have been very successful in, 

 I suppose, forming some kind of costings rates?- -I am 

 afraid I have not any particulars at all in my mind. 



548. I think that will be very interesting for this 

 Commission if you get hold of any figures with 

 regard to Irish demonstration farms, which are in 

 almost every form, are they not? Yes, I think they 

 are. 



549. Chairman: If Sir Henry could get them for us? 

 I do not know if the Commission are going to hear 

 a representative of the Irish Board of Agriculture. 



Chairman : It might be useful for us ; but our refer- 

 ence is to enquire into the economic prospects of the 

 agricultural industry in Great Britain, and not 

 Ireland. 



Mr. Green : No ; but we have to deal with competi- 

 tion, have we not? 



Chairman : Yes. If the Board have them, I have 

 no doubt Sir Henry will put them in. If the Board 

 have not got them, then the Commission will have to 

 consider whether we should ask any representative of 

 the Irish Board of Agriculture to give evidence. 

 But I am a little doubtful, because tho scope of our 

 reference only covers Great Britain. 



550. Mr. Green : That was one of the recommenda- 

 tions of Lord Selborne's Committee, was it not : that 

 this country should set up demonstration farms in 

 almost every county? Yes, I think it was. 



551. Mr. Edwards : Dealing with your immediate 

 figures in these returns, leaving of course on one 

 side prices, which are really no measure, have you 

 known, say before the wa/ and during the war, 

 whether there has been any real progress in the 

 quantity of produce from a given area in this country? 

 Do you mean over a series of years? 



