MINUTES ol' EVIDENCE. 



131 



19 Auffust, 1919.] 



SIR THOMAS H. MIDULETON, K.B.E.. C.B. 



[Continued. 



3200. As a matter of fact you have taken no 

 account at all of store cattle, and you know the 

 practice of buying store cattle is one which very 

 largely obtains both in England and Scotland? 

 Yes, that is so. 



3201. And there is a very large profit attached 

 to it? I think I have indicated in my memorandum 

 that there is a large profit accruing from that. The 

 experience of Irish breeders of cattle and of the 

 letting of grass by auction indicate that there has 

 been a large profit on stores. 



3202. So that there are other elements which move 

 into a farmer's balance sheet than those you have 

 given in your appendices? Yes. 



3203. With regard to Summary No. 1, as you are 

 aware under the Small Holdings Act of Scotland, 

 a number of small holdings were taken up and a 

 special Laud Court fixed a very low rent for them? 

 Yes. 



3204. Are you aware that a lot of those small hold- 

 ings have since been given up? 1 am not. I do not 

 know how many have been given up. 



3205. Is not the difficulty with regard to small 

 holdings the cost and upkeep of buildings? That is 

 so. 



3206. You make that as a suggestion for the abate- 

 ment of Income Tax. You have not made that very 

 clear to me, but I suppose I must leave it as it is. 

 As you increase the quantity of your doubtful land 

 into tillage cultivation you just by so much decrease 

 the grass land for the growing of cattle? Yes. 



3207. Are we not to a large extent dependent upon 

 cattle growing for our food in this country? About 

 half of our meat supply comes from the cattle grown 

 at home. 



3208. And only two-sevenths of our grain supply? 

 Yes. 



3209. So that it is just as much to our interest to 

 keep up our meat supply where we have got a big 

 standard as it is to our interest to keep up our grain 

 supply which we hope to increase, particularly by 

 encouraging experiments on bad land? I do not 

 quite agree there, but the argument with regard to 

 meat production would take too long, I think. 



3210. What is the average weight yield in this 

 country for fair moderate good land? Last year, 

 1918, it was 33 bushels per acre. 



3211. A little over 4 qrs.? Yes 



3212. What is the yield of similar land in Germany, 

 do you know? I could not off-hand compare similar 

 land in Germany with laud in England, but I can give 

 you the average German yield. According to the 

 published yields before the war, their wheat was some- 

 thing like 33 or 34 bushels to the acre that is my 

 recollection. 



3213. No better than in this country? I am not 

 sure that it is as good, but I will find it for you. 

 Here it is. The yield per acre was 31-6 bushels 

 before the war. Our yield in the same period was 

 31-2, so that it was just the same. I may say my own 

 view is that the German estimates were above the 

 mark, whereas our own were rather below the mark. 



3214. Somebody has put a question to you with 

 regard to the hedging. Is it not the fact that about 

 2 per cent, of the land in great parts of England are 

 occupied by hedges and ditches? It is more like 10 

 per cent, than 2 per cent, in many counties. I think 

 that in the West of England you will find the land 

 occupied by hedges and ditches often ranges from 6 to 

 about 10 per cent., according to the size of the fields. 



3215. I did not think it was anything like that? 

 I am speaking without figures, but I know it is a very 

 large proportion. In the Eastern counties, of course, 

 it is much less. 



3lilO. Would it not increase the yield if hedges 



and ditches were done away with and simply wood 



and wire put up go that the land could ho 



cultivated close up? It certainly would increase the 



yield. 



26125 



3217. You say quite frankly in the beginning of 

 your evidence, that in the absence of a large number 

 of accounts and statistics it is impossible to prove the 

 correctness of some of your estimates. What we are 

 very anxious to find is the balance sheet of a few 

 farmers from the actual working of their farms? 

 Yes. 



3218. Have you ever seen any? I have, but when 

 you lay emphasis on a few, I think you are doing a 

 very dangerous thing. If you had balance sheets of 

 a thousand farms, we will say, that would be another 

 matter, and I should like to see the averages in that 

 case. 



3219. We would be content with 100, I think? I am 

 afraid I should not be content with your views with 

 regard to the 100. 



3220. I would rather take 100 certain actual results 

 than I would a series of calculations where it is 

 impossible either to prove or disprove? Well, I 

 would not. 



3221. Have you any of such balance sheets at your 

 disposal which you could submit to the Commission ? 

 No, I have none at my disposal for submission to the 

 Commission. 



3222. Can you tell us how we could get any? 

 I understand you have made arrangements for getting 

 them through the Costings Committee. 



3223. Mr. Green: With regard to the efficiency of 

 labour, were you aware that when the Royal Commis- 

 sion sat in 1881 I may tell you I have been reading it 

 up recently there were many complaints made about 

 the efficiency of labour? I think it is quite likely, 

 and I will take it from you that there were. 



3224. And if there were a Royal Commission on 

 labour in 1991 there would still be complaints about 

 the efficiency of labour, would there not? I agree 

 that is very likely. 



3225. Have you any figures at hand showing the 

 acreage under wheat between 1910 and 1914? Yes. 



3226. The only point I want to know is this : was 

 the acreage progressive? No, it was about stationary, 

 I think, in those years. Between 1905 and 1914 I 

 have got the average figures here the average wheat 

 area of England and Wales was 1,736,000 acres. I 

 think there was a slight tendency upwards: in 1914 

 it was 1,800,000, if I remember rightly. 



3227. You will admit, I suppose, that farmers were 

 doing fairly well during the years of 1911, 1912, 1913, 

 and 1914? Fairly well; the position was improving 

 distinctly. 



3228. Yet you allow a profit of only 10s. an acre 

 on wheat? Yes. I think I have explained that my 

 estimated yield may be too low, and that you ought to 

 add two bushels an acre to it. 



3229. Your experience in the Food Production Dw 

 partment led you, I suppose, to realise that we had a 

 certain number of inefficient farmers in this country? 

 That is so. 



3230. Do you think there were pro rata more in- 

 efficient labourers than farmers or perhaps that is 

 not a fair question? It is a matter of pure specula- 

 tion, but I should say that the average is the same 

 both of labourers and of farmers. 



3231. Would you say that the lever under the Corn 

 Production Act was the compulsory powers rather 

 than guaranteed prices? It was the Defence of the 

 Realm Act that gave us the compulsory powers. 



3232. Yes, that is so. I venture to submit that we 

 might have the Defence of the Realm Act in so far 

 as Orders 2l and 2n are concerned circulated to the 

 members of this Commission. The reason why I 

 suggest that is because there is a danger of the 

 Defence of the Realm Act being lifted at any moment, 

 and the Act would lose a very powerful lever if those 

 compulsory powers were removed. Do you not agree 

 with me? I agree that you might with advantage 

 read the clauses, but I cannot think that you will 

 continue in peace lime the compulsory clauses of the 

 Orders made under the' Defence of the Realm Act. 



The Chair man: I think it is not within our power 

 to deal with the Defence of the Realm Act. 



I 3 



