154 



K..VAI. COMMISSION ON AGRICII.TIKK. 



JtOAuyutt, KM;".] 



M. CASTELI. WRIT. 



[Continued. 



about 16 years of age, and would be earning 8s. a 

 ,1,. 



3866. 8s. a day? Yea. 



In what particular locality or district is this 

 p.utifiilar farm situated? Northampton. 



3858. Tin- district? The Oundle Rural Distri, t 

 It we allow tliat t)u- ti t -ld was n hilly one m-t 

 being perfectly level, and a third horse was necessary, 

 tin- horse should be attached to the whipple tree and 

 not used as a chain horse, as it is a proved fact that 

 tin- in-art-r a horse is to his work, the heavier the pull 

 and the less the strain to the horse. The binder is 

 not fitted with a sheaf carrier, which is also an 

 uneconomical method of cutting. I consider that 

 then- is it great waste of man-power and horse-power 

 in that illustration. Only on Saturday lost I saw 

 four similar examples in the 15 miles journey I made 

 by road. 



3869. But whose fault would that be? The 

 farmers, I think. I hare still other items on para- 

 graph 4, if you care to see them. There is another 

 picture of more waste of labour. (Handing sainr.) 

 There is a picture of a hay loader loading hay into 

 a cart with two horses pulling the cart; and a man 

 leading each horse. It is a most extravagant waste 

 of labour and of horse-power. In the first place, a 

 wagon should hare been used and not a cart. 

 Secondly, the two horses should hare been abreast and 

 not one used as a chain horse. A boy of 14 could very 

 well drire the pair of horses if they were working 

 abreast, and the two active young men depicted in 

 the picture could be far better employed elsewhere. 

 I consider that one man and a strong boy or girl are 

 enough for this work, and that there was a daily 

 ui-te of wages to three men, and a waste of horse- 

 power. Then I hare figures here of cutting corn on 

 the Apethorpe Farm last week. Merely for the 

 matter of argument I hare put the wages of the 

 drivers of the binders at Is. per hour, and the charge 

 for horses at the local custom of 6s. per day. The first 

 field I cut was 36 acres. It was cut with an 8 feet 

 binder in 21 hours, which is at the 'rate of 1-711 acres 

 per hour, and the cost of the actual cutting was 21d. 

 per acre. The binder, string, oil, &c., are not 

 counted in any of these examples. The second field 

 I cut was 19 acres, which was also cut with an 8 feet 

 binder in 10 hours, which is at the rate of 1-900 acres 

 per hour, and a cost of 19d. per acre. This field was 

 cut quicker than the prerious one, owing to the field 

 being more level, and also that the binder was in 

 perfect order, having been working for two days. 

 The third field was a field of 26 acres, and was cut 

 with a 7 feet binder and took 26 hours, or at the 

 rate of 1 acre per hour, and at a cost of 30d. per acre, 

 thus costing the farm 9d. and lid. per acre more than 

 the 8 feet machine. When one thinks of the com- 

 paratively few large binders in use in this country, 

 find the enormous area cut erery year, a rast wa-te 

 of time, energy, and money is disclosed. The above 

 argument holds good in many of the farming 

 operations carried on daily. 



3860. Were these examples taken from different 

 farms? From different things I see as I am trarelling 

 about. The last example of cutting was taken on my 

 own farm : my own men working and checking their 

 hours themselves. 



I So that you do agreo that there is such a 

 thing as waste of labour? Certainly. I hnve one 

 more item here. That is the matter of selling cattle 

 and sheep on the weighbridge. The majority of 

 farmer* are very much against this method of selling, 

 and I have found great opposition myself in selling 

 to butchers on the weighbridge. The farmer, it must 

 be taken for granted, is an expert at his profession 

 /!/ fanning, but farming embraces BO many 

 operation* that the farmer has not tli' time to put 

 the whole of his time to studying the butchering 

 trade, whereas the butcher has the one subject to 

 Ktud.v namely, the yield and killing qualities of the 

 beasts he is daily buying, and it seems more than 

 ttrange to me that the average farmer is prepared 

 to deal with the butcher in his own yard on such 



disadvantageous terms. I have met with great 

 opposition from the butchers by selling on the weigh- 

 bridge, but I consider that this system is the only 

 fair one from a farmer's point of view, although in 

 the past I have bought thousands of fat cattle it hat 

 was abroad not in England), but at that time my 

 whole energy and time were concentrated on the fat 

 stock market. I was not a farmer in the morning and 

 a hutchcr in the afternoon. I consider that thousands 

 of pounds are lost to the farming community and go 

 into the butchers' pockets yearly, and will continue 

 to do so as long as the average farmer has the 

 temerity to pit himself against the expert butcher. 



3S6'J. Chairman: Is that the conclusion of your 

 observations on that point? Yes. 



3863. Mr. Walker: You say in your concluding 

 remarks that tho farmer has not the time or has not 

 the ability to apply himself as it were to the 

 different routine of his particular work. What 

 remedy would you suggest? I did not quite follow 

 your question. 



3864. You say there that the farmer has not the 

 time and has not the ability to apply himself to the 

 different routine of his work the different phases 

 of farming. What do you suggest aa a remedy? 

 I do not think I said that. 



3865. I am sorry if you did not: I understood you 

 to eay so? I said the farmer has not the time to put 

 the whole of his time in studying the butchering 

 trade. 



3866. I beg your pardon. I thought you said so 

 far as farming generally was concerned. I take it 

 you meant that that was one phase of his work that 

 he might study? Yes. 



. 3867. To find a better system than he has got at 

 present, what do you suggest? I suggest that he 

 should sell all his cattle en the weighbridge; that is 

 the fairest medium between the butcher and the 

 farmer. 



3868. That is your suggestion ? Yes. 



3869. In paragraph 5 you say: "The increasing 

 lack of skilled labour and apparent callousness of 

 the younger workmen employed on agriculture." 

 What do you mean exactly by that? I think that, 

 with the exception of a few of the older men em- 

 ployed on farms, there is no doubt to my mind that 

 the labourer has wilfully deteriorated in his work, 

 in punctuality and in application; and I consider 

 that the agricultural labourer has done less than any 

 other class of worker to help to secure the victory 

 the nation has been fighting for, and has done it 

 knowingly, conscious that the farmer could not dis- 

 miss him owing to being unable to replace him. 



3870. Do you say " wilfully "? Wilfully. 



3871. Might I ask through you, Sir William, 

 whether Mr. Wrey read Mr. Lloyd George's speech 

 the other night in the House of Commons? I am 

 afraid I did not. " 



3872. Would you be surprised to know that tin- 

 J'rime Minister himself stated that then- was a de- 

 crease in production in every industry with one 

 exception, and that exception v. as agriculture. How- 

 do you reconcile the two points? Because the 

 fanners themselves have worked in the last four 

 years as they have not worked for many years. It is 

 not through agricultural labourers. 



3873. So the agricultural labourers had nothing t 

 do with the increased production? Very little; as 

 little as they could do. 



3874. Would you be surprised if 1 gave yon in- 

 stance after instance mm here farmers attend 

 markets live times a week:- Can you tell me how 



farmers have been able to assist ill the pro- 

 duel inn of foodstuffs? I think farmers who do that 

 are worthy of i;reat censure. 



.'1H7.Y Hut would you not be surprised to know 

 that there an- ilicu'-.inds of cases such as that? 

 I do know it; in fact. I have a note to that effect 

 here, which 1 will rend to you, if you like. " It has 

 bun complained that the farmers say they cannot 

 pay the high wages and that a number of farmers 

 spend six days a week at various markets and do so 

 in expensive motor cars. Often the labourer is in a 



