MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



141 



19 August, 1919.] 



SIK THOMAS H. MIDDI.ETON, K.B.E., C.B. 



[Continued. 



3498. In the case of a great deal of that land 

 cottages and buildings have been allowed to fall into 

 disrepair, almost into ruins, in some places, have 

 they not? That is so. 



3499. It has been quite impossible for the tenants 

 and impossible also in many cases for the landlords 

 to do the necessary building at the present cost. Have 

 you thought whether any scheme could be evolved 

 whereby the owner could get money on preferential 

 terms to enable him to do the necessary building? 

 I think the suggestion which you make has been put 

 up and definitely rejected, but looking at it from 

 the agriculturist's point of view I think it would be 

 very desirable. 



3500. That does seem a very, very real difficulty in 

 keeping this land in cultivation? Yes, it is a real 

 difficulty. 



3501. I know a great many farmers told me last 

 year that they had great difficulty in providing 

 cottages for their labourers and stabling for their 

 horses, and so on, and if they are to keep the land 

 in cultivation, you do not see any prospect of afford- 

 ing them any aid in that respect? No. As I say. 

 the proposal was put forward, but it has been turned 

 down. 



3502. Would you lay much emphasis on the grow- 

 ing of corn for market purposes, or so long as the 

 land is kept in cultivation do you think that is 

 enough? So long as the land is kept in cultivation, 

 and the men and the horses and the buildings are 

 there, that is all one wants from what you may 

 describe as the safety point of view; but it would 

 appear to be necessary to grow all the corn we can 

 in the next few years because of the outlook with 

 regard to the world's supply, which is bad. 



3503. So is the outlook as 1 regards the output of 

 meat and feeding stuff? Yes; but we can do very 

 much better without meat than we can without bread. 



3504. We have to have feeding stuffs to rear the 

 stock that we have. Take the four-course rotation. 

 Instead of four, divide it into eight. Do you think 

 it would be good from the national standpoint to 

 have, say, four-eighths growing corn, one-eighth 

 growing forage crops for stock breeding purposes, 

 beans, peas, and BO on, and so save the import of 

 artificial feeding stuffs? I think that would be de- 

 sirable in the immediate future, when the difficulty to 

 which you refer is very acute. 



3505. There has been a good deal said about the 

 cost of horse keep and horse labour. Have you con- 

 sidered the relative cost of horse and tractor labour? 

 Not quite recently. I think it would be useful 

 for you to get information from the Food Production 

 Department as to the cost of tractor work.- About 

 a year ago when paraffin was expensive horse labour 

 was much the cheaper. 



3506. Do you think we could really take the figures 

 of the Food Production Department as being of any 

 use for the future? No; but I think they could give 

 a fair idea of what the cost would be to the farmer. 



3507. Of course, the figures were correct, no doubt, 

 as they got them out, but they were very, very high 

 with a view to unskilled driving? Yes, that is so. 



3508. So that we should want something more 

 accurate to help the farmer practically? I think 

 somebody in the Department could make an estimate 

 that would be useful to a practical farmer. 



3509. I should think that would be a good thing 

 for us to investigate? We know the cost of machinery 

 of paraffin Und labour. 



3510. You have spoken about the guarantee with 

 regard to wheat. Would you limit it to wheat, or 

 would you include other cereals? I think it would 

 be impossible to give a guarantee for wheat without 

 giving a guarantee for oats, having regard to Scot- 

 land and Wales. 



3511. Yon would include oate? Yes, I think it 

 would havo to follow wheat. 



3512. In your cattle feeding report, I see in the 

 la*t paragraph you give 7 6s. 8d. as the post- 

 war cost of fattening a 23 month old beast for six 

 months? Yen. 



3513. We have often been told that that is too 

 large an amount. Do you consider it an economic 

 quantity, having regard to the present price of cakes? 

 I would not use so much myself, but if you take 

 roots of average quality you will not get the increase I 

 estimated for namely 2^ cwt. in the time, with less 

 than that quantity of cake. You must remember we 

 are feeding against time, and we know almost exactly 

 what cattle will gain in a given -period. 



3514. In getting these figures out, you have based 

 your estimate upon home grown cattle which presum- 

 ably have been making a regul-ar rate of progress? 

 That is so. 



3515. So that the cost at any period will be rela- 

 tively less than it would be in the case of purchased 

 cattle, which take several weeks before they begin to 

 improve? That is so. T may say these figures are 

 based on the cattle weighings at Cockle Park Farm, 

 Northumberland . 



3516. In the case of bought cattle the cost per cwt. 

 would probably be greater than the figures you have 

 given us here? Yes. 



3517. In any case the cost per cwt. would be greater 

 because it would take a longer period before there 

 was a similar increase? Yes. 



3518. You have explained the system that is adopted 

 through these cows rearing their calves? Yes. 



3519. Do not you think that system might with 

 advantage to the country be very much extended to 

 second-class grass land and arable land? It wants 

 a mixture of arable land with grass, and it might be 

 an inducement on second-class land to plough it up, 

 not so much for the sake of corn as for the sake 

 of stock food growing? Yes. If my wish were to be 

 fulfilled that we should have more tillage farming, 

 I think it is quite likely that we should have a 

 development of that system which you are referring to. 



3520. You have a lot of similar land in the North 

 which is laid down to grass? Yes. 



3521. You think it would be profitable to the farmer 

 and the nation if this system were extended and a 

 good deal of that land ploughed, the principal object 

 being to rear stock? Yes. 



3522. In view of all the differences of opinion which 

 have been ^expressed as to the cost in different areas, 

 do you think at the finish any definite figure could 



be put forward as being an average figure? The 



Commission could base estimates on average figures 

 relating to specified conditions. 



3523. Dr. Douglas : We have had it brought before 

 us by several witnesses that the land of the country 

 has become a good deal deteriorated owing to the 

 scarcity of labour and so on during the war. Do you 

 agree with that opinion? Yes, I think that is the 

 case. 1 have not had an opportunity of seeing much 

 of England this year, but I did see a great deal of 

 it last year, and certainly in the late autumn last 

 year the want of labour was responsible for a very 

 foul condition of the stubbles. 



3524. Do you take that into account at all as an 



element in your post-war cost of production? Not in 



this particular case of wheat growing. 



3525. It is a factor that will be operative at some 

 time? It is. 



3526. With regard to the feeding and rearing of 

 cattle, let me pursue a little further Mr. Rea's ques- 

 tions to you. This estimate of yours is based upon a 

 state of matters that does not often exist? It exists 

 quite commonly in Northumberland and Cumberland. 



3527. There is a very large proportion of the cattle 

 feeding of the country which has to be carried on 

 under a different system? Yes, the ordinary feeding 

 of cattle in the country consists in the purchase of 

 stores in Ihe rearing districts by the feeders. 



3528. So that there is a more expensive method 

 which is essential for a considerable part of the pro- 

 duction* 1 I do not think it could have been more 

 expensive, because if you take my estimate of the 

 cost of rearing these cattle before the war it left a 

 very narrow margin of profit. My conclusion from 

 that is that store cattle must have been raised at 

 lower rates in a good many other districts than it 



