MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



181 



20 August, 1919.] 



MR. L. N. GOODING. 



[Continued. 



Showing the cost of production to be 38s. lOd. per 

 coomb of 16 stone, the Government guaranteed mini- 

 mum price for this year's crop being 34s. 5d. per 16 

 stone. 



No artificials have been charged for in above, as it 

 is considered if used they would increase the yield, 

 though this is not by any means always the result on 

 light land. 



It has not been possible to collect corn returns 

 showing the yield over all classes of land in the time 

 allowed for collecting evidence for this enquiry, but 

 the average yields of corn on the different classes of 

 land may be taken approximately as under : 



The number of horses required to work the different 

 classes of land per 100 acres is approximately: 



Light land 2 horses per 100 acres. 



Mixed land 3 



Heavy land... ... 4 ,, ,, ,, 



Fen land 5 ,, ,, 



From this it will be seen that, although the average 

 yields of corn are more on the better class of land, the 

 horse labour is correspondingly increased, and there 'is 

 considerably more manual labour required. 



It is only the shortage of time allowed in which to 

 collect evidence to prepare this Report that compels 

 me to restrict the evidence to the cost of producing the 

 white straw crops of the farm and only on one class of 

 land. 



The proposed reduction of hours of labour in summer 

 from 54 to 50 hours will increase the cost by rather 

 more than l-13th. 



Horse labour, costing 6s. per day, working a week of 

 54 hours, costs 3d. per hour. 



But when the hours are reduced to 50 the cost will 

 be 8id. per hour, equal to 6s. 4Jd. per day. 



This will increase all the cost of cultivation carried 

 out during the summer by 8 per cent. 



(This condudet.the Evidence-in-C'hief.) 



The Chairman : I will invite Mr. Lennard to ask 

 you the questions which may occur to him with re- 

 ference to the statement you have been so kind as to 

 hand in to us. 



4690. Mr. Lennnrd : Concerning the Table on the 

 cost of growing an acre of wheat,* I notice you in- 

 clude 3 for farmyard manure as part of your cost? 

 Yes. 



4691. On the credit side of your account in para- 

 graph J. you put nothing down for straw? The 

 reason I do not put down credit for straw is that the 

 straw is not usually sold ; it has to remain on the 

 farm. If a tenant leaves a farm in Norfolk he has to 

 leave the straw, and it is very unusual, excepting 

 near large towns, for a tenant to sell any quantity 

 of straw. 



4692. Quite, but am I right in understanding that 

 a good part of your straw would go into the farm- 

 yard manure? A certain amount of it, but if you 

 had to buy the straw and make the manure of course 

 your manure would cost you considerably more than 

 5s. a load. The manure value of the farm-yard muck 

 I have taken at Os. 4 which would hardly include the 

 straw ; it would be worth that without the value of 

 the straw. 



4693. So that you are practically ignoring the straw? 

 I have left the straw out in both parts. 



I Mr. I'tirker: In the fourth paragraph 



--<) yon g'vc certain reasons why there has been 



deterioration in the land. Have you made any 



;ite of what sum per acre it would take to restore 



"See Appendix VII., Table A (2). 



25125 



the land to its pre-war fertility? No, I have not done 

 that. That would be a very large sum, but I have 

 not made any estimate of what it would cost. 



4695. What do you mean by very large sum? The 

 cost of cleaning the land would be very heavy at the 

 present time. The land in Norfolk generally is in a 

 very bad state through the effects of the war shortage 

 of labour, and weeds, and so forth, in the, land, and 

 it would cost a large sum to put it back into a proper 

 state of cultivation. 



4696. 4 or 5 an acre? I am not prepared (to state 

 a sum at the present time. 



4697. In paragraph No. 4 you say: "It does not 

 appear that the tractor can be worked more economic- 

 ally than horses upon the farm." What is the life of 

 one of these tractors what depreciation is there? I 

 should say that on an average the tractor will not 

 last longer than six years. 



4698. Do you think it would last as many as six 

 years? That would be the outside five or six years 

 perhaps. 



4699. In your estimate of the cost per acre you 

 bring out 11 4s. 4d. as the cost? Yes. 



4700. In that calculation have you taken account 

 of the full minimum wage at 36s. 6d.? Yes, plus the 

 wages for the team men 



4701. How would that figure be^affected if the work- 

 ing hours were reduced from 54 to 50 in the summer 

 months? That increases the cost of production by 8 

 per cent. I estimate. I worked out very carefully the 

 cost of the reduction of hours. 



4702. Eight per cent, would have to be added to the 

 11 4s. 4d.? Not quite all of it, because a small part 

 of these cultivations would be done in the winter. 

 It would be 8 per cent, on the cost of the manual 

 labour and the horse labour because the cost would be 

 correspondingly increased. 



4703. Is it 8 per cent, on the cost of manual labour^ 

 or 8 per cent, on the total cost per acre? It would be 

 8 per cent, on the total cost per acre except for a 

 small part of the time when the work was done dn the 

 winter hours, which would not be reduced. It is 

 only proposed to reduce the hours in summer, I take 

 it. 



4704. I make out that you get 83s. lOd. 

 a quarter on light land to cover cost of production 

 without allowing anything for interest on capital or 

 farmers' wages and without takjng into consideration 

 the reduction of hours from 54 to 50 in the summer 

 time. Is that so? Yes. 



4705. You say: " The price necessary to repay the 

 cost of cultivation as shown above without giving the 

 farmer any interest on his capital or profit for himself 

 is 10s. 5Jd. per bushel or 41s. lid. per coomb of 18 

 stone, the Government guaranteed minimum price for 

 this year's crop being 37s. 9d." \Jhat minimum price 

 do you think should be guaranteed to the farmer in 

 any amendment of the Corn Production Act? The 

 farmer wants slightly over the cost of production. 



4706. That would be 83s. lOd.? The cost of pro- 

 duction on this land is 83s. lOd. In addition to that 

 the farmer is entitled to something for his own time 

 and laSour and also something for interest on his 

 capital. 



4707. Do you say that any minimum settled by an 

 amendment of the Corn Production Act should be 

 something above 83s. lOd.? For this present year's 

 crop. 



4708. Mr. liobbins: Do you regard a guarantee for 

 one year as affording any encouragement to farmers? 

 None whatever; they want a settled policy for a 

 number of years. 



4709. What is your idea of a policy which would 

 be likely to secure the sound economic position of 

 industry? I am afraid I should not like to offer an 

 opinion upon that; that is a matter for the Royal 

 Commission itself, I take it. 



4710. As far as you have considered the matter 

 are you in favour of a guaranteed price for several 

 years? Not altogether. I do not believe in a guaran- 

 teed price, but there must be some form of guaran- 

 tee some security for the farmer. At the present 



time everything is uncertain and unsettled, and he 

 does not know how to lay his plans. 



M 4 



