184 



ROYAL COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURE. 



XO Augutt. 1919.] 



MR. L. N. Goonixo. 



[Ctiiitinrud. 



more corn into this country at a cheaper rate than we 

 c.ni grow it. 



!77'J. Tho climatic conditions of this country are u> 

 good as those in other countries that we have to 

 compete with, are they not?- I should not care to 

 express an opinion upon that point. 



4*73. Do you know that the rate of wages is higher 

 in this country: I cannot express any opinion upon 

 any question of foreign policy ; I have not gone into 

 that at all. 



4774. We are going into the question of what the 

 cost of product 'on will be? I have estimated what it 

 will cost to produce corn in this country, but what 

 it will cost to produce in foreign countries I have no 

 means of judging. 



1775. Assuming wheat can be bought at 60s., and 

 that the 60s. minimum goes up to Cos., would you 

 agree with me in fixing a scale by which the farm 

 labourer should get a weekly proportion of it in his 

 wages? -The old adage used to be that the value of a 

 coomb of wheat was equal to the week's wages of the 

 man. That, in my opinion, would not be unfair, but 

 that at the present time would not be considered 

 sufficient. 



4776. With regard to security of tenure, do you 

 think that the tenant farmer would speculate or sink 

 his money in the land, if he had security of tenure? 

 What do you mean by security of tenure? 



4777. A man who had nothing to fear as regards 

 being turned out of his farm? At the present time 

 most farmers prefer to be (tenant farmers rather than 

 owners. 



4778. Is that your opinion? That is a fact, if they 

 hnve a good landlord. 



1779. Mr. 7. M. II i nili-rsi>ii : You have been asked a 

 good many questions about horses, so I will not bother 

 you beyond one point. I see in one case you put down 

 the cost of stabling at 1 19s. 9d. per week? Yes. 



4780. Is not that very excessive? That is what the 

 farmer informs me he gives his horses what <vt costs 

 htm on the farm. 



4781. You can stable a hack at a livery stable for 

 less than that? That includes the cost of the corn, 

 and roots; and whatever he gives them bran, and so 

 on. That is what he actually gives them ; that is all 

 I can say. 



4782. You say you have been so hurried that it has 

 been impossible for you to produce any accurate or 

 comprehensive figures, etc., and I understand you have 

 promised to give us more details at a later date? 

 Yes. 



4783. F see you say in paragraph B., under 

 " The cost of manual labour " : " Usually if the man 

 is not at work he does not receive his wages, so we 

 may calculate that he is working for 313 days in tin- 

 year." 313 days, surely, is all the days that he could 

 work in the year, unless he worked on Sundays? He 

 gets paid for every day he works. 



4784. He would not be working on the Sundays? 

 That is taking the 52 Sundays off. 



4786. You have worked it out as coming to more 

 money than the 42s. 6d., so that your figures are a 

 little bit hasty? -He is paid for every day he is at 

 work. 



4786. You say: " Usually if the man is not at work 

 he does not receive his wages, so we may calculate 

 that he is working for 313 days." That means that 

 he is working every day in the year, and you put it at 

 7s. 6d. a day? It comes out at 118 a year. 



4787. How many days in the year does he work? 

 I could not say, but if he does not work he does not 

 get bis 7s. 6d. 



4788. No labourer works every working day in the 

 year, does he? No. 



4789. Then how does he work for 313 days in the 

 year? If he does not work on one day does he make 

 it up on another day? No. He gets paid for the 

 time he does work. 



4790. Supposing on Monday and Tuesday the 

 weather in so bad that he is unable to do any work 

 at all. What happens then? Then he get* paid for 

 the four days on which he does work. 



4791. Out of the 313 days, how many days do 



you flunk tin man cannot work? It all depends 

 upon the state of the man's health. 



4792. I am speaking from the climatic point of 

 -We have to find the men work on wet days, 



and they hang round the farm very often doing work 

 which does not pay, and also in the winter cleaning up 

 harness and other things which really do not count. 



4793. When the weather is so bad that a man can- 

 not work, you find a job for him somewhere or other 

 on the farm? If possible. It is nearly always done. 

 If it is a wet day we find him a job inside cleaning 

 harness, dressing corn and putting corn up for market. 



4794. Chopping sticks? No, he would not do that. 



4795. You say you have formed no opinion upon 

 what should be, if any, tho minimum guarantee under 

 the Corn Production Act? I am not ready to give 

 that opinion. 



4796. What has been the average price of wheat 

 that you have been receiving during the last few 

 years? I am afraid I have not got that. 



4797. Mr. Green : You are the agent for 5,000 acres, 

 are you not? Yes. 



4798. Will the balance sheets you propose to present 

 to us be the balance sheets of your home farm or of 

 the home farm and of tenant farmers? I propose to 

 produce the balance sheets from a large number of 

 tenant farmers in the county of Norfolk. I am also 

 prepared, if it is thought desirable, to put in accounts 

 of the Riddlesworth Estate for the last 19 years. 

 We have had four farms most of the time in "hand, 

 and the accounts in each case have been kept 

 separately just as if the farms had belonged to 

 different owners. 



4799. Would they be of home farms or of tenant 

 farmers? Mostly of tenant farmers. 



4800. And one home farm? Yes. 



4801. What is the size of the home farm? The sire 

 of the home farm where I live is about 800 acres. 



4802. With regard to paragraph K. of your evidence, 

 do I understand you have a kind of roving coimni^s'on 

 over 13,000 acres? No, that is on actual returns 

 from the farmers of the actual corn grown and the 

 number of acres sown. 



4803. Why arc these returns sent to you? Be. 



I sent out a large number of forms and asked the 

 farmers to send them back to me so as to get reliable 

 information for the Commission on behalf of the two 

 bodies who appointed me as their local Secretary 

 the Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture and the Farmers' 

 Federation. 



4804. How is this yield of wheat of 21-42 bushels per 

 acre so extraordinarily below the average yield of the 

 country, do you know? Is this very poor land? No, 

 this is not the very poor land ; the very poor land 

 shows a considerably lower average than that. 



4805. Surely the land of Norfolk is noted for its 

 wheat-growing qualities? YPS. on tho better lands, 

 but there is a very large quantity of land in Norfolk 

 which does not show a better average than 21 bushels, 

 taking the last six years' average. I admit it sur- 

 prised me at first. 



4806. Arc you quite sure it is correct? Yes, I have 

 the figures from the individual farmers. 



4807. It in good light land, is it? Yes, and \\<-'.\ 

 farmed. I am not including very poor 1 ght land 

 which only grows two or three coombs of wheat to the 

 acre ; I have left those out. 



4808. You say before tin- war you employed 90 men 

 on the 5,000 acres? Ye,; it might have been a few 

 more, or it might have been a few less. 



4809. How many men do you employ now?. Pro- 

 bably about 70. 



i. The 70 men have to do the same amount <<f 

 work now as the 90 men did before the war? No, 

 not quite, because the work is somewhat d Ifen-ntly 

 urrangod, and wo have given up two largo farms 

 since, tho war ; we have let two farms. 



Ml. Tho last Witness we had told us that he is 

 working a farm of 700 acres with about half tho 

 number of men he employed before, tho war. and ye: 

 the fertility of that farm had increased? I am sur- 

 prised <U> hear it ; he must havo had bettor men than 

 we have got. 



