178 



ROYAL COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURE. 



20 Auyutt, 1919.] 



MR. B. STHATTON. 



4643. If there are small errors or large errors in 

 thete estimates, your profits might be either greater 

 or less than would be shown by taking this 10, and 

 the produce of 4 quarters of corn soldi' Yes. 



4644. Does your bank book show you that the profit 

 is greater or less than would be shown on these figures!' 



I take it it would show them to be greater, because 



on the figures I am working on we have had practically 

 a 30 per cent, increase in cost. Ootton cake has gone 

 up from 14 to 20, and labour from 30s. to 36s. 6d. 

 Coal has also gone up 6s., and the tradesmen's bills, and 

 i-trrviliing else, will be in proportion, and, in addition. 

 we have this year, in particular, got a low av. 

 yield. 



4645. Would you just turn for a moment to the cost 

 of producing beef I take it it is? Yes. 



4646. Is this meant to cover one year? Yes. 



4647. Have you added up the number of weeks? 

 It is 53, is it not? 



4648. Do you think there are any other errors like 

 that in these calculations? No, I do not think so, but 

 I do not think that it makes much difference really to 

 the result. 



4649. Mr. Cautley: Are you a tenant farmer? I 

 am. 



4650. Solely? Solely. 



4651. How long have you been a practical fanner ?- 



I left school when I was 17, I was with my father for 

 some years, and then my brother and I were in part- 

 nership, and I think I have been on my own for 

 about five years. 



4652. Altogether how long experience is that? 26 

 years. 



4653. Always in Wiltshire? Always in the same 

 place. 



4654. On the same farm? Yes. 



4655. Your farm, you told us, is 400 acres? Yes; 

 400 acres arable. 



4656. Half tillage land and the other half grass?- 

 Yes. I also occupy a farm of 2,000 acres, but my 

 figures are taken from the previous one. 



4657. That is to say, you cultivate 200 acres, 

 roughly, and the other is down land? Yes. These 

 figures are typical of Wiltshire generally. 



4658. The point of my question is this: Do the 

 figures you have given us relate to a large tract of 

 country" in Wiltshire? They do. 



4659. Could you tell me at all roughly how big an 

 area, because Wiltshire farming seems to be in a very 

 serious position? Would you call it Wiltshire Hill 

 farming, or what do you call it? The Wiltshire Hills, 

 including the whole of Salisbury Plain and Marl- 

 borough Plain and the Swindon Plain. There is 

 better land in the valley, where wheat can be grown 

 cheaper, but this poor land cannot be cultivated 

 without sheep. 



4660. This is the poorer land in Wiltshire? Yes. 



4661. It covers a large tract of country? Yes. 



4662. You could not tell us the size of it? No. 



4663. Would it run into 100,000 acres? Yes, more. 



4664. 200,000 or more than that? Yes, I should 

 think it would be over 200,000 acres. 



4665. You cannot grow corn without sheep? No. 



4666. Is that the reason you charge the interest 

 on the growing of each corn crop on 17. the amount 

 of capital, over the whole acreage? Yes. 



4067. It is impossible, in your view, I take it, to 

 separate the amount of capital used in the corn 

 growing as apart from the rest of the farm? Cer- 

 tainly, it is impossible, to divide it. 



4668. The sheep form part of the capital? Yes. 



4669. They are necessary to the growing of the 

 corn? Yea. 



4670. Are your figures framed on the existing prices 

 of the day? For labour? 



l' 71. Yes, but for cakes and the other items where 

 you put the prices against them, are they all on the 

 current prices of to-day? Of course, hay enters very 

 little into it, and the roots are perhaps at a local 

 figure. 



4072. I understand that the hay eaten by the sheep 

 does not appear in the account at all - h docs not. 



l(>73. So that to you it would be a much more 

 profitable business apart from the necessity of having 

 sheep on the farm (to sell the hay which at present 

 you feed to the sheep? Certainly. 



4674. But if you did that the arable land would 

 have to go out of cultivation? Yes. 



4675. Could you keep the sheep on the grass alone 

 without the tillage land without the roots? No, we 

 get them so subject to disease in that case. 



4676. It would not be practicable to let the tillage 

 farm go and turn it all into a sheep farm on gross ?- 

 No. I may say that was done on one occasion. My 

 father was farming in the '60s, and in 1879 he took 

 a farm which was largely arable at the time. Prices 

 were very bad then, and he laid it down to gross and 

 did extremely well for a number of years. Then 

 suddenly the sheep began to die and got eaten up by 

 internal worms and one thing and another, so it was 

 a failure. 



4677. You say it is impossible, that it is not a 

 practical proposition? That ia so. 



4678. Are you a representative of the farming com- 

 munity in Wiltshire are you on any representative 

 body? I am not sent here by anybody, but I am YVc- 

 Chairman of the Farmers' Union and Chairman of the, 

 South Wilts Chamber. I do not know why I waa 

 called here to-day. 



4679. Are we going to see anybody else from your 

 country? I hr.vo not heard M>. 



4680. Your suggestion therefore comes to this, that 

 you ought to have a free market in lamb? Yes. I 

 tli ink that is most important. 



4681. Lamb you regard as a luxury, I understand? 

 Yes; it always was a luxury. 



4682. And always commanded a better price than 

 mutton? Certainly. I should like to read you this 

 cutting from our local paper of the 16th August last 

 with regard to Britford Sheep Fair. Britford Fair is 

 one of the biggest affairs in England. It is close 

 to Salisbury. It was held on the 12th August. This 

 says: " Whereaa in years gone by as many as 70000 

 or 80,000 sheep have been penned on the Fair ground, 

 nowadays between 13,000 and 15,000 sli:-cp is tin- 

 average. On Tuesday the entry was slightly more 

 than last year, when about 13,000 were sent to fair, 

 and there were again many grand ram lambs from 

 leading Hampshire Down breeders. Trade was far 

 from satisfactory from the point of view of the 

 sellers." Mr. Harding, speaking afterwards at the 

 presentation of prizes, said: " The serious part of the. 

 matter was that by giving up the flocks, the corn 

 crops would lie reduced by one-half, and the nation did 

 not appear to realise the seriousness of that." Thon 

 we go on to the ram sales, and in connection with 

 Major Morrison's sale it says: "Owing to the con- 

 tinued drought and the dispersal and reduction of 

 so many flocks, there was no demand for the laml's 

 on offer from this renowned flock." They could not 

 sell the ram Lambs because people were giving up th 

 ewes. 



(The Witneit withdrew.) 



Mr. L. N. GOODINO, Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture, and Farmers' Federation, Ltd., called and examined 



4683. The Chairman: You are an Estate Agent, 

 and have been asked to give evidence before the Com- 

 mission on behalf of the Norfolk Chamber of Agri- 

 culture and the Farmers' Federation. Ltd.? Yes. 



4684. You have put in a prtriii of evidence which 

 perhaps you will allow mo to take as read? Yes. 



Evidcnce-in-chief handed in by Witness, 



4685. (1) I :un now and have tor the last 2<> years 

 been Mta to Mr. W. N. L. Champion, ol 

 Riddlesworth Mall, Norfolk, nnd have the control and 



^ht of upwards of 6,000 acres of land. I am 

 a Fellow of the Auctioneers and Estate Agents' 

 Institute. 



4686. (2) I have been instructed by the Norfolk 



