170 



KYAL COMMISSION i.N AGKICULTUKE. 



80 Avgutt, 1919.] 



MK. CASTKLL WHET. 



[Continued. 



4406. Mr. Overman: On these very heavy lands 

 have you worked out the number of days on win. u 

 the horses are working on them.- 1 brought up uoaio 

 figures in case that question was raised showing my 

 idea, only 1 am afraid 1 have not worked it out in 

 detail, from October 1st, a horse would be iu the 

 stable for 32 weeks night and day, and on wet 

 of court*-, and I have given his rations. 



IliKj. What 1 want to know i> how many profitable 

 days you get out of a horse out of the ;HM m nx -kon- 

 ing up your 6s. a day:' I went through it with my 

 carters and as near as I can get it, every imr- 

 off ten days on an average last year and 52 Sundays 

 of course. 



4107. 1 see your horses are employed on work for 

 the estate as well as the farm} 1 - ' 



I lint does not come under farm work:' No, 

 but we gut paid for it. 



4101). If you reckon that as part of the earnings 

 of tho horse, you must not take the (is. u day as a 

 charge against the farm alone:' - -1 do not reckon any- 

 thing for tho earnings of the horse; 1 .simply put is 

 in the charge. 



1110. How many acres of this very heavy land do 

 you get ploughed: 1 Take la, the 10 acre field? Iu 

 that Held they would not plough half an acre a day. 



1111. Yet you say it would only cost 1 4s. 3d.? 

 I suggest that your figures must be entirely wrong? 

 All right, it is up to you to prove it. 



4112. Could any sane man say that you could 

 plough an acre of three-horse land for LI 4s. 3d.:' It 

 seems to me that these figures are absolutely in- 

 correct:' You have no right to say that without 

 knowing the facts. These figures are the actual 

 wages paid and the actual hours worked on the field. 



4413. Was this ten aere field three-horse land or 

 four-horse land:' I can look that out for you, and 1 

 will do so before 1 come up again. 1 expect that 

 field was ploughed with 5 horses and a double furrow 

 plough. 



4414. Do you tell us that you can cut a ten acre field 

 in half a day:- Yes, certainly, with two 8 ft. binders 

 1 can do it. I gave you figures this morning showing 

 that 1 could cut 1-7 acre per hour, and also 1-9 acre 

 per hour with an 8 ft. binder. 



1 115. That is about eight hours, so your day would 

 bo a 16 hour day:' No; with two binders it is eight 

 hours. 



lllti. That is more than eight hours' work; it must* 

 IK- a 10 hour day: 1 You have the figures I gave, you 

 this morning showing that 1 cut 30 acres in 21 hours, 

 which is equal to 1-714 acre per hour. Another licit! 

 work" out ill l-'J acre per hour. 



111". Wii it two binders in each case? Yes, there 

 were two binders in cac -h ca-e, but I have put it down 

 as one working to -ii.'plii'y the matter. 



'III 1 -. Mr. .liiAvr NUMINOUS: 1 understand you are 

 farming in round figure* 1,350 acres of arable ):!. I.- 

 Yes. 



111!). The rotation of wheat would lie, roughly, 375 

 me year with another:- It ought to lie. 



I 12O. Y'ou have given us figures for only 32 acres? 



1121. It i.s mote essential for us than perhaps any 

 other point we have to consider here to arrive at what 

 in a fa r a-, t for the producton of wheat per 



:n re You would not argue that growing wheat after 

 <>r wheat lifter clover, would slum an average 

 coat of the production of wheat generally:- No. 



4122. That is tho cheapest form of production? 

 V. - 



1123. It onlv involves one ploughing? Yes. 



412!. Would it bo possible for you to take out the 

 cost of production of your wheat on the whole 370 

 acres? I am afraid I could not do that for you. 

 1 tii use until nine months ago I had not got a castings 

 clerk, and I had to do nil my own costings at night 

 and in my spare time. 



\-lVi. If a man comes here and gives evidence whero 

 careful costings are kept and .nvs that the co~t is 

 15 per acre, and you come and give your figures 

 which show that it is only 5 per acre, that is liable 

 to lead us to a wrong conclusion unless figures are 

 produced from which we can ee upon which the 

 calculation 1 ) are based ? T think, with due deference 

 to the Commission, you are trying to arrive at an 



impossibility. 1 do not see how you can arrive at 

 the cost of growing wheat. 



I. I quite agree it is impossible to arrive at a 

 st milard cost of wheat production, because it so 

 much depends upon what wheat is grown after? Yes. 



4427. What 1 want the Commission to understand 

 from your evidence is that you have only given us 

 the figures in respect of 32 acres out of 375? I gave 

 you two fields of wheat. 



Ill's. Together they come to 32 acres? No; one Is 

 32 acres. 



s ; 1 beg your pardon, and the other is 10, 

 making 42 altogether? Yes. 1 will try to give you 

 the rest. 



4130. If possible, I should like you to enlarge uj>on 

 tht and give us a more genet il average o 

 of production over tho whole of this farm ol yours? 

 I will try to, certainly. 



4431. Your land is exceptionally heavy land:- -Yes. 



4432. I know the county fairly well, and as to tho 

 question of rent, 12s. 6d., that cannot in any sense 

 be taken as anything approaching the average rent 

 of wheat bearing land in this country? No, nothing 

 like it. 



4433. Following up the questions put to you by 

 Mr. Overman, would it be possible for you to a 

 tain for how many days in the year the men are 

 unprofitablv employed, or are not employed at all 

 owing to climatic conditions, except in the way of 

 your making a job for them? No, 1 am afraid I could 

 not get at that. 



4434. Have you considered at all any other method 

 of safeguarding the farmer, particularly the farmer 

 of arable land, against such losses as we witnessed in 

 the years you quoted from 1875 to 1895, other than 

 that of giving a guarantee? I think that a great 

 deal might be done by education. 



4435. Would any education iu the world have pre- 

 vented what happened to him during the years l*7"i 

 to the end of the century- fi would have helped 

 considerably, 1 believe. If you take Canada and 

 America and France, and some other countries, every 

 scientific fact that is discovered in agriculture i 

 circulated by what applies to our Hoard of Agricul- 

 ture in those countries to every farmer, whether li 

 reads the pamphlets or not, or \\hether h want* th m 

 or not. 



I l.'tli. You would not ay that the man wl, 

 entrusted to carry out that work for us should IMS,. 

 his reports on farms of, I will not say. III.IXNI 

 or even 2,000 acres? l-'rom :: national point of view 

 you would not recommend that land in Kngland should 

 be cut up into 2,000-acre farms, would you :- Th-- 

 tion arises there what price the main populace of 

 Kngland are prepared to pay for their wh-at. If you 

 get the persons living in the towns grumbling at 

 the price of wheat, you have either got to pa\ a MI!I 

 siily to the farmer or grow much more economically, 

 :'iid that, in my opinion, can only be done In having 

 r farms. 



1 1.T. Kroni the national point of view it would bo 

 i to have ten farmers than one in a specified 

 Yes. from the point of wiew of health. 



fl.'i". Ten farmers would lie able to employ more 

 labour than one? Yes; but, in my opinion, that is 

 not economical. 



1 !:. Mr. l!t: You say you use 8 ft. binders? 



Mlii. Do you find them a trouble fit really hca\v 

 crops? None at all. Abroad we II.M- II ft.' binder's 

 alwa 



1. Are the crops a- heavy there as they are h, r. r 

 Ye,. ,|iiite, ami they vary just as much. . 



MIL'. Do you work be-t with tractors or horses? 

 Horv 



I Mi. Have you done any work with tractors? I 



did in 191:;. I used to take two 6 ft. b : nders on a 



tractor. 



1 1 1 1. Mow many horses do you have with the binder? 

 - Three on a good field and four on an Held. 



II I" M v.iu made any comparison between horse 

 and tractor labour? No, because my tractor was 

 always tin . ii was always breaking down; 

 it was a new t mi-tor, and I had nobody- who was really 

 fit to drive it. It was more worry than pleasure, and 

 I dropped the whole thing. 



