INS 



ROYAL COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURE. 



20 Auyu*t, 1919.] 



MB. L. N. GOODINO. 



[Continual. 



can push forward just at the proper part of the year. 

 That might counteract tin- increased cost of the 

 tractor. That is how I look at it, although I do not 

 consider that it will actually cheapen the cost of 

 production. 



4922. With regard to the cost of ploughing with 

 hones on light land, which you put at 14s. 7d. for 

 I| acres per day with three horses, that, I suppose, 

 is double furrow ploughing? Yes. In some places 

 they say they plough more, but I do not think they 

 do, if you take into account the time they lose. 



4983. I should think it is a pretty fair average 

 myself P Yes, they ought to do that. 



4924. To go to your next class, mixed soil, one acre 

 per day with two horses, that works out at 19s. 6d. 

 an acre? Yes; they ought to plough an acre a day 

 on mixed soil. 



4925. Do you think they plough as much as that? 

 They should do. 



4926. That again seems very high nowadays. With 

 regard to your corn returns, is this statement over a 

 large number of farms in addition to your own? Yes, 

 they are in respect of nine other farms; there is only 

 one of our own. 



4927. The results seem to vary so. In No. 1 you 

 have 32*88 bushels of wheat and only 33 bushels of 

 oats? Those are the actual returns in regard to 

 No. 1 of the actual number of acres sown and the 

 amount threshed. In that particular case every sack 

 was weighed up at the engine at the market weights. 



4928. If it is a farm that varies a good deal in 

 quality, you naturally expect to have a bigger yield 

 of oats than of wheat? Yes, you would, perhaps, 

 although wheat is always sown on the best land and 

 under the best conditions. In that case wheat is 

 almost invariably sown after sainfoin and if you put 

 your oats there you would get a higher return of 

 oats. 



4929. That is what I wanted to get at. The con- 

 ditions are better in that case? Yes, wheat is always 

 gown under the best conditions. 



4930. What about the barley? That is an average 

 of 703 acres in six years. In that case, also, every 

 sack was weighed up at the engine at 16 stone. 



4931. What is the rotation which is commonly 

 followed? Four-course: clover, wheat, roots, and then 

 barley. 



4932. Where do the oats come in? The oats come 

 in instead of wheat every alternate fourth year. As 

 a rule every fourth year we put either clover or sain- 

 foin. Then we put mixed layer and after the mixed 

 layer oats or rye. 



4933. Does not that seem a very small yield under 

 that treatment? It is a small yield, but the fact is 

 that almost invariably there is a drought at some 

 part of the year which affects these light lands. The 

 crop may look very promising indeed in the early 

 part of the season, and then you get three or four weeks 

 without any rain and it keeps getting less and ! -- 

 promising every day. These are absolutely accurate 

 figures. 



I'J.'ll. Of course, you grow the finest quality of barley 

 in Norfolk ? We used to, but since the war we have 

 not done, because of the shortage of labour and other 

 things. You cannot get a good crop of barley without 

 a tremendous lot of trouble if you get a wet season. 

 \Ve take it that these are well managed farms. 

 and yet the cereal crops in each instance show a lo-s 

 according to these returns? They do on the minimum 

 guaranteed price of corn. 



4936. How do the farmers carry on? What do 

 they make their profit on!' Of c ni-i', thev have 

 made more than the minimum guarantee I |,i 

 recently, and perhapr* they have made a profit on 

 sheep and cattle. I think that the profits have been 

 more on the sheep or stock than on the corn, really. 



4937. You are taking the present cost of labour, 

 the minimum of which is fixed, and the minimum price 

 for corn, which is not the market price? Yes. 



4938. So that if the market price is more, this loss 

 will be wiped out? I do not know that it is likely 

 to be more. That is a thing I am not able to say. 



I am ju-t pointing out that at the present prieo 

 guai.mtced liy the Government corn cannot be grown 

 at a profit. 



Ji'.'R'. If the prices of cereals are not in excess of 

 the guarantied minimum, there will be a loss all 

 round thi> year? That is so. 



4940. Ih. l>uii<jla*: I just want to put one or two 

 (|iifstioiis tn you on pages 9 and 10 with regard tu 

 your cost of growing one acre of oats on light land 

 in Norfolk. Are all these operations usually carried 

 ...it' I think you said that this oat crop comes in 

 after a mixed layer that is to say, mixed grass and 

 clover seed? Yes. 



I one year's lay, is it? As a rule. 



4942. Are all these operations usually carried out? 

 They should be. 



4943. The harrowing, for example, before sowing.-' 

 That is nearly always necessary. 



I!MI. You sh-iw a financial lesiilt on that, which 

 mean-, that under present conditions it would lie 

 impossible to grow oats unless yon were sure of getting 

 6s. Id. per bushel? Yes. 



Ill I"). Was this class of land producing oats before 

 the war? Certainly. 



i. At a profit? I am not able to say; I have 

 not gone into the figures before the war. 



4947. Would you suppose there could be a profit. 

 comparing present conditions and prices with 

 obtaining before the war? I should think it <|iiite 

 likely, because the cost of labour alone has gone up 

 270 per cent., whereas the cost of the oats has not 

 gone up in anything like that proportion. 



8, Is 26 bushels a typical yield for Norfolk land 

 under oats? That is the average for the ten farms. 



4949. You do not, of course, suggest that it is 

 possible that there should be a guaranteed price of 

 nearly 49s. a quarter for oats in the future? All I 

 suggest, and all I ask, is that the farmers should 

 receive a sufficient price for their produce to pay a 

 little bit over the cost of production. 



4950. According to your figures, that would !> 



a quarter? Whatever it costs a man to produce, he 

 should receive a little bit over. If we can make sure 

 that it costs him that amount of money to produce. 

 he is entitled to receive something over. If a manu- 

 facturer manufactures :>u article he knows what it 

 has cost him, and he adds a little bit on for his own 

 profit. 



-i'")l. As a matter of administration, you reco 

 that it would be impossible to give you 49s. a quarter 

 for oats grown in Norfolk unless 49s. a quarter were 

 also given for oats grown in some other part of the 

 country where they can produce oats at 10 quarters 

 to the acre? Well, if it does not pay to grow oats 

 in Norfolk, oats will cease to be grown. 



I'.i.'il'. You think that unless the guarantee is given, 

 a certain quantity of land will cease to grow corn in 

 Norfolk? Y.s; they will probably grow something 

 eke; they might grow rye, but that all depends upon 

 the price of rye. 



4953. Assume that rye and oats maintain their 

 present prices? I think it is doubtful whether the 

 present price of rye will be maintained. 



4954. They are in about the same position to each 

 other, are they not? Rye is worth more than oats, 

 but you do not get the yield. 



IH.Vi. The price per acre for the two would be in 

 the same relation now as they were before the war, 

 would they not? 1 am not prepared to state that: 

 1 have not got the figures. 



4956. That is your ((inclusion, that unless a 

 guaranteed price , m lie got amounting to 49s. a 

 quarter, this land will go out of cultivation as far as 

 oats are com "rned v Yes. a farmer will not attempt 

 to grow a crop unless he can be assured that he will 

 "inething over what it is going to cost him 

 to produce like any oilier manufacturer. 



l'.r>7. t'lxiirmiin : Will it be convenient for you to 

 get these balance sheets which you have promised to 

 produce to us and come up here again on the 2nd 

 September? Yes, I can manage that, I think. 



