145* 



ROTAL COMMISSION ON AORKH'UTRE. 



19 Auguil, 1919.] 



SIR TUOMAB H. MIODLETON, K.B.E., C.B. 



[Continued. 



possible to raise them at in Northumberland. 

 A* I have indicated, I think that in Ireland they 

 probably could be raised at a considerably lower figure. 



3539. You think the usual method is a more econo- 

 mical one? It is very difficult to Kay unless ono 

 specifies the precise locality. I should say that in 

 Northumberland the method is the most economical 

 for tin- district, but if you take the Eastern Counties 

 I should suppose that the more economical method 

 Mr. Overman will correct me if I am wrong is the 

 purchase of stores. 



3530. That is an essential method; they rould not 

 do otherwise? Yes, they could do otherwise; they 

 could rear. 



3531. K their land suitable for that? I know nrable 

 farms where men have had a certain amount of 

 success in rearing cattle, but it i- exceptional. 



3532. Your figures show a very considerably in- 

 creased cost for winter feeding over summer feeding? 

 That is so. 



3533. Does that mean that the rearing of cattle by 

 arable methods as distinct from grazing would involve 

 a higher cost of production? Not if, as Mr. Rea 

 indicated, there were associated with the arable land 

 a considerable area of second and third rate pasture. 



3534. My point is that if a lot of the land which 

 is now used for grazing second and third rate 

 pasture were to be ploughed up, you would be more 

 dependent upon arable products for the feeding of 

 cattle? In practice what would happen on farms of 

 that description would be that you would gradually 

 improve the second and third rate pastures, increase 

 the stock on the pastures, and break up the third- 

 class land as you increased the stock. 



3535. It has been suggested sometimes that the 

 extension of education would lead to a greater de- 

 velopment of the arable area as compared with grass 

 farming. You have had very considerable experience 

 of administration, have you not? Yes. 



3536. Would you say generally that in order to be 

 accepted by the farmers of different districts, ttie 

 education given must adapt itself to the existing 

 systems of Farming rather than seek to change them? 



I think that in general your statement is correct, 



but I do think if you get hold of your farmer young, 

 when his mind is adaptable, you can influence him 

 in one direction or another, and that the spread of 

 education would tend to develop tillage farming by 

 pointing out the advantages which tillage farming 

 offers over grass farming, having regard to the 

 different systems that can be adopted and the different 

 opportunities which it affords for meeting various 

 markets. 



3537. Education is just as capable ' of improving 

 grass farming as it is of improving tillage farming, 

 is it not? In the case of the individual, I think 

 that education will do more for the man who is 

 engaged in arable farming than it will for the man 

 who is engaged in grass farming; but education in 

 the maiw will help to improve grass more rapidly than 

 it will tillage, for the reason that the direct method 

 of improving grass is by manuring suitably, and it 

 is easy to give directions for the suitable manuring 

 of grass land. Therefore, through the action of a 

 single competent adviser you can rapidly get a good 

 result in the case of grass. 



3638. So that it would not favour one more than 

 the other? -I think the first effect would be on grass 

 farming, because you can more rapidly work through 

 advisory officer* than you can in the case of tillage 

 farming. 



3539. With regard to the suggestions you made 

 about the remission of taxation, you recognise, 1 

 think, that that would operate quite unequally tii>on 

 tho smaller as compared with the larger farmer? Yes, 

 quite. 



3540. I suppose yon agree tiiat a very large pro- 

 portion of the farmers in the country pay no Income 

 Tax at all under existing rebates and allowances for 



family, and so on? Yes, that is so. Up to 100 acres 

 or thereabouts I suppose they pay little or no Income 

 Tax. 



3541. So that it would really be a cheapening of 

 production to the larger farmers with no correspond- 

 ing advantage to the smaller farmers? That i^ s<> 

 I recognise that fully. 



3542. It would be an even greater disadvantage to 

 the smaller farmers by reducing the liabilities l their 

 larger competitors? That might be so. 



3543. As to the i|iiestioii of transport, you spoke of 

 the advantage of transport for the marketing of cer- 

 tain perishable articles and smaller products U 

 there anything more in it- 1 Does it really alfei I the 

 position of the main products- 1 Oh, yes. 



3544. What are the defects so far as corn and cattle 

 are concerned? Are the present transport facilities 

 insufficient? So far us cattle and corn are concerned, 

 1 still think that the journey to many railway stations 

 is much further than is good for the industry, and in 

 the case of potatoes, for example, the difficult; of 

 transport into the London market every year is the 

 cause of many complarhts from the farmers of South 

 Lincolnshire and adjacent districts. 



3545. Is that because of the railway system? 

 Because better transport is wanted. 



3546. What would be the remedy for that? In- 

 creased trucks, and I should also think that in sonu< 

 of those potato-growing areas they want more railway 

 stations. They have very long distances to cart at 

 present. 



3547. Is there any scheme that you are aware of 

 under consideration in that respect? I am not in 

 personal touch with any scheme for transport, but I 

 do know that the Board are paying very close atten- 

 tion to the subject at the present time. 



3548. Mr. Lennard: Can you tell us whether, in 

 your opinion, as you have studied the conditions in 

 Germany recently, it is probable that Germany will 

 in future import more cereals than she did before the 

 war? I saw so little of Germany that I hesitate 

 to offer an opinion with regard to that; but what I 

 did see indicated that the Germans in tho occupied 

 territory were working very hard indeed on the land. 

 Germany is aware of her debt, and the agricultural 

 classes in Germany are, I think, likely to do every- 

 thing possible to supply the home market. I think 

 that Germany will not depend upon imported grain to 

 a larger extent than she did before the war. 



3549.- Mr. Rmith : Could yoxi tell us whether it is 

 correct that the German farm workers are demanding 

 higher wages? I ascertained the wages that are 

 being paid round about Cologne. (1<*,e to Cologne 

 itself wages are very high because of the competition 

 of the factories. I heard a figure of 2 marks -10 per 

 hour. The value of the mark is 76 to the I' at 

 present. About 10 to 15 miles out from Cologne, 

 where there is not the same rush into the factories, 

 the rates run at about 7 to 8 marks per day as against 

 3 to 4 marks per day before the war. Under a 

 different system of payment, wheno the men are 

 boarded on the farm, I found that a. farmer whom 

 I interrogated had engaged two men at 87 marks 

 and board per month as against 30 to 32 marks lictmc 

 the war. 



3550. Mr. fnnilry : Could you tell us tly purchasing 

 power now of the mark in Germany as compared with 

 what it was before tho war?- Theoretically it is sup 

 posed to be four-fifths. 



3551. But practically? It is very hard to say. I 

 did not get an opportunity of judging of that. 

 Living is, of course, very expensive. In the Cologne 

 markets I saw cheese at 12-5 marks, margarine 

 8 marks, inferior sausages 4 marks, and potatoes 

 }. mark per Ib. 



(Thr Witnrn withdrew.) 



