MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



43 



6 August, 1919.] 



MR. J. M. CAIE. 



{Continued. 



946. As regards the purchase of farm requirements 

 you would also agree that the statement of the average 

 increase in the price of fertilisers and feeding stuffs; 

 does not give you any adequate idea of the increase 

 in price of all farm requirements? I quite agree. 



947. Chairman: Did you not offer to give us details 

 of that point if we wanted it? I can give you corre- 

 sponding figures for practically all the fertilisers and 

 feeding stuffs on the market; I merely selected these 

 two or three, as I did not want to overburden the 

 Tables. 



948. Mr. Ashby: Will you consider taking the 

 \\ hite Paper which the Secretaries can supply you 

 with whether it would be possible for you to give 

 us the average prices for as many of the farm pro- 

 ducts as you have and to assign to them a series of 

 weights, and then to take the prices of farm require- 

 ments in so far as you have them, and assign to them 

 also a series of weights, and make an attempt to state ' 

 the weighted average increase in price of farm pro- 

 ducts and also the weighted increase in price of farm 

 requirements? It would be very difficult to do that 

 in the case of the farm requirements. I doubt if we 

 have sufficient information to enable us to do that 

 but I quite see the importance of it. 



949. You have no import information, for instance, 

 with regard to the prices of farm equipment take 

 harness as an example? No. We have no record of 

 that. 



950. You would have, 1 presume, statistical records 

 with regard to Scottish agriculture for a number of 

 years. It is true, is it not, that the decline in the 

 area of arable land in Scotland from 1880 to, say, 

 1913 was nothing like so great, proportionately, as it 

 was in England? I should want to verify that by 

 reference to the statistics. 



951. I think we can ascertain that for ourselves 

 from the published statistics. 



952. Mr. Cautley: Will you look at Table 5, the 

 one referring to milk? Were milk prices fixed in 

 Scotland during 1918 and 1919? I think so. 



953. Was it a fact that in Scotland the farmer was 

 getting 27^d. 2s. 3}d. a gallon in June last? That 

 is the average for the year. 



954. Yes, but he never got more than 2s. 3^d. at 

 any time? This figure I thould say is the average 

 of the prices recorded at Aberdeen, Dundee, Edin- 

 burgh, and Glasgow, including the two prices for 

 Kdinburgh milk milk produced locally in the town 

 dnirifs, as well as the rail-borne milk. 



9-Vi. \\'as not the price of milk received by the pro- 

 ducer fixed ? Yes, this is the wholesale price. 



956. I am speaking of the wholesale price? There 

 are two prices in Edinburgh. 



957. I do not understand what the 27^d. means? 

 It is the average of the prices recorded in the four 

 markets I mentioned, and I am including the price 

 of milk produced locally in the town dairies, as wcU 

 as the price of rail-borne milk. 



958. In England there is one price, and one price 

 only, to the producer, plus carriage. Is the system 

 the same in Scotland? I cannot profess to carry all 

 the Ministry of Food Regulations in my head, but 1 

 am quite certain there are two prices fixed for the 

 Edinburgh milk. 



May we have them, because 2s. 3^d. as an 

 average price for the six months of this year, 1919, 

 is out of all proportion to what the English farmer 

 received. In June the price of milk in England was 

 Is. 3d. or Is. 4d. per gallon? Would not the price 

 in the earlier months bring up the average? 



960. It was never more than 2s. 3^d. I think the 

 highest price as 2s. 2Jd. ? I will look that up for 

 you. 



!>''il. I am told that 2s. 3d. was the maximum for 



England all tho time. It went down in June to Is. 3d. 



:imo thing applies to your fignro of 23^d. for 



1918. Will you inquire into that also? Yes, I will 



have that looked into. 



962. Now, if yon will look at Table 7, the average 

 prices of fertilisers, you will agree with me, will you 

 not, that prices are higher now than they were? 



Take sulphate of ammonia, for instance. Am I right 

 in saying that the price of sulphate of ammonia is 

 at least 19 a ton now? At the present moment? 



963. Yes? I am quite prepared to take that from 

 you, 



964. I would rather you did not take it from me. 

 I am not giving the evidence, you see, but I speak 

 from a little experience? I cannot say what the 

 price of sulphate of ammonia is at the present 

 moment. 



965. Has not nitrate of soda also increased beyond 

 the figure shown here? That is the average of six 

 months for the first half of 1919. 



966. Are not the prices of these two commodities 

 considerably higher at the present moment than the 

 prices you have put down here? I can supply you 

 with the prices at the present moment. 



967. I should like to have them, but I do not want 

 to overburden you? I shall be delighted to supply 

 you with them. 



968. Thank you. Will yon turn to the next Table, 

 Table 8? I would ask you the same sort of question 

 as to that. You put down the average price of 

 linseed cake for the first half of 1919 as 19 2s. 7d. 

 a ton. Was that the price from tho merchant? I 

 should think so. 



969. Is not the price to-day from the merchant 26? 

 At the present moment? 



970. Yes? This is the average for the six months. 



971. I quite understand that? Do you wish me, in 

 effect, to add another column to this Table showing 

 the present prices? 



972. I do not want to overburden you; I only 

 want you to answer the question, if you are in a 

 position to do so? I have not got last week's prices 

 with me, or I could tell you in a moment what the 

 present prices are. 



973. Chairman: Will you furnish us with those? 

 With pleasure. 



974. Mr. Cautley : Is not the price of cotton cako 

 to-day 29 10s. a ton? I am in the same position 

 with regard to the price of cotton cake. 



975. Will you toll mo how these average prices of 

 feeding stuffs were arrived at? They were simply 

 made up as an arithmetical average of the prices 

 recorded in our weekly reports. 



976. The weekly reports made to the Scottish 

 Board? Yes, by the Board's market reporters. 



977. Are they made from price lists, or are they 

 made from information which your reporters gather 

 from the markets? They are made on information 

 gathered from the markets in all cases. 



978. But from no merchant's price list, or standard 

 prices, or anything of that kind? They are a record 

 of actual transactions. 



979. Will you now look at the prices charged for the 

 hire of the Board's horses? Is the present price for 

 two-horse ploughing 25s. an acre? That is the price 

 you state. It is headed " 1917-1918 " ? Two para- 

 graphs down you will find a record of the prices 

 charged for 1918-1919. 



980. Are these the prices actually charged by the 

 Board? Yes, to the farmer. 



981. That was for doing tho extra ploughing the 

 farmer had to do under the orders to plough upr-- 

 Yes, or where the farmer was not able to undertake 

 it himself, whether under order or otherwise 



982. Does the answer you gave with regard to 

 tractor ploughing, that you did it at a loss, apply 

 to the horse ploughing? No, I think we came out 

 just about square in the case of tho horse ploughing. 



983. Have you any accounts to show that? They 

 are now being made up. 



984. Are we likely to have them? If you wish. 



985. Yes? Certainly. 



986. Can a farmer to-day get his ploughing done 

 for 289. a day pair horse ploughing? (By tho 

 Board's horses? 



