MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



15 October, 1919.] MESSRS. ALLISON, JNK., McNicoL, STEWAKT, DAVIDSON, MCLAREN. 



\Continutd. 



14.457. I am quite willing to admit that the in- 

 cidence of the rate is very unfair, but what is your 

 solution not to spend money on education at all? 

 No, certainly not. 



14.458. A reform of the rating system? Yes. 



14.459. Mr. J. M. Henderson: Turning to potatoes, 

 Mr. Allison, how much per ton did the early potatoes 

 realise Last year or this year? (Mr. AUison) : We 

 have not conducted any enquiry into that, and in 

 preparing those costs we have eliminated any case 

 of early potatoes as it was a special crop. Those 

 potatoes have no earlies amongst them. 



14.460. I thought you said one of them had? No, 

 we have eliminated those in the figures here. 



14.461. What is the usual price of ordinary 

 potatoes? (Mr. Mcyieol): The controlled price was 

 6 10s. Od. to 8 10s. Od. according to the season they 

 were sold at. 



14.462. Was there a controlled price last year? 

 Yes. (Mr. Stewart) : A lot of farmers have not got 

 paid for their potatoes yet. 



14.163. If a farmer told me that last year he sold 

 his potatoes at 10 a ton what would you say to that? 

 That would be before the control went on in 

 November. 



14.464. AVhat would be the price before the control 

 went on? That price would refer principally to the 

 earlies. 



14.465. No, September and October would not? It 

 would be second earlies. I do not remember what 

 the price was. 



14.466. It would he quite possible for a farmer to 

 sell his crop in August, September or October at so 

 much a ton although he had not really raised his 

 potatoes ? In Scotland they would not be sold per 

 ton ; they would be sold per acre probably. 



14.467. What would they be sold at per acre? I 

 cannot remember just exactly what the general run 

 of acre prices was last year. 



1 I. Hi- 1 . 1 was told distinctly by a farmer who grew 

 potatoes on land which I let to him that he had sold 

 the whole of his potatoes at 10 a ton last yeai :-- 



U: Allison): He might have been specially 

 fortunate. (Mr. Mcyieol) : Might I ask whether that 

 was in England or in Scotland? 



14.469. That was in England? We cannot speak 

 of what happens in England. 



14.470. I have noticed that whenever there is a big 

 price obtained in England they always manage to 

 get a bigger price in Scotland. However, you cannot 

 tell us anything more than the controlled price? 

 (Mr. Stewart) : Immediately before the control 

 came on they were cheaper. I forget the price 

 exactly. The case you refer to might have been the 

 case of a farmer who sold his potatoes early in the 

 season when his crop was immature and possibly he 

 was entitled to a higher price per ton. 



14.471. As practical Scotch farmers apart from con- 

 trol or with control, what was the price you sold your 

 potatoes at per ton ? (Mr. McNicol) : The main crop 

 of potatoes in Scotland were under the control and 

 had to be sold at controlled prices last year's crop. 



14.472. Which was 6 10s. Od. a ton? 6 10s. Od. 

 rising to 8 10s. Od. 



14.473. Rising to 8 10s. Od., when? In May. 



I 1.-174. It would be quite possible for the farmer to 

 hold over his potatoes until the high price came? 

 (Mr. Stewart): Yes, but in a great many cases the 

 farmers sold 'their potatoes at much less than the 

 controlled price in order to get quit of them because 

 they would not keep ; that was a common experience 

 in Scotland. 



14.475. Why will they not keep? Certain varieties 

 will keep and others will not. 



14.476. Am I to understand from you that where 

 the cost per ton is not over 6 there is a loss? (Mr. 

 McNicol) : No, because it depends upon when these 

 potatoes are sold. Our estimates are based on 

 potatoes sold. 



14.477. Taking the whole of these would you say 

 Scottish farmers made a loss or a profit on their 

 potatoes on the whole market? I would say they 

 made a profit. 



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14.478. Take oats now. Again I put the same 

 question to you : what was the price at which last 

 year's crop of oats was sold last year? They were 

 Government controlled last year at 47s. 6d. to 

 51s. 6d. ; in some cases they were sold under those 

 prices ; at certain times of the year we could not 

 get the controlled price in our district. 



14.479. Did that controlled price last right into 

 this crop? (Mr. AUison) : It lasted until June, 1915, 

 when the price was 52s. ; it rose from 47s. 6d. to 

 52s. 



14.480. In all these cases there are only one or 

 two that go beyond 47s. 6d. and there is only one 

 that goes beyond 52s., so that, on the whole, they 

 must have made a profit on the oats? (Mr. 

 McXicol): Yes. 



14.481. What was the controlled price of barley? 

 67s. up till November, and then it was raised to 70s., 

 and it was a flat rate after that throughout the 

 season. 



14.482. Taking these figures before me, there was 

 only one case where there was a loss of 67s. ; in all 

 the rest there was a profit:' Yes. 



14.483. At 70s. there was only one that showed a 

 small loss. As regards wheat, I see your average 

 grain production in quarters is roughly 5 quarters 

 to the acre? (Mr. Allison) : It is a littte over 4| 

 per acre. 



14.484. I make it 5 quarters. What was that 

 sold at? The control price was 75s. 6d. in October, 

 1918, and it rose to 76s. 6d. by the 1st June, 1919. 



14.485. At these prices every one of these made a 

 profit? Yes. 



14.486. Does the difference between the, weight of 

 th:> tj'.iai'ter ;a Scotland and England affect these 

 profits at all? No, that was a price for 504 Ibs. to 

 the quarter. 



14.487. Is your six quarters to the acre for No. 1 

 (in the same quantity, 504 Ibs.?- Yes. 



1-1.488. The English turnout is not up to five 

 (jiiarters? Yon will bear in mind that the average in 

 Scotland for wheat in 1918 was five quarters. The 

 Board of Agriculture figures show five. (Mr. 

 McNicol) : The wheat in Scotland is practically all 

 grown on the better class of Land that may help it a 

 bit and it always follows n green crop, which also 

 helps it. 



14,489. Me. ./. M. Henderson: Have you any of 

 the farmers' balance sheets 



Chairman: I think that has been dealt with. 



Mr. J. M. Henderson : It has boon dealt with 

 ral times, hut 1 have never SMI any. 



Chairman: Mr. Allison has stated that ho is pre- 

 pared, when he has time to do so, to present balance 

 sheets to the Commission to support those figures. 

 The urgency with which the figures were required to 

 present costs prevented Mr. Allison from the prepara- 

 tion of balance sheets, but he has promised to obtain 

 those and send them to the Secretaries. 



U..490. Mr. Green: I am rather interested in your 

 hay costs in paragraph 7. Do these refer to the first 

 or the second or the third year leas? (Mr. McNicol) : 

 Mostly to the first year's leas, including Timothy 

 hay. 



14.491. I was going to ask you whether the cultiva- 

 tion of the first year is put down to the cost of the 

 hay I mean the ploughing? (Mr. Allison) : Yes, it 

 is carried forward. The limitation of our paper pre- 

 vented us from showing it in detail, but in each 

 case we have charged the cleaning and the residual 

 value of manures. 



14.492. What about the second and the third year? 

 -If there is anything in the second or third there 

 should bo a credit for it, but in practice it i.s a 

 Very small amount and would hardly affect the cost. 



14.493. Did you allow for that in the cost? No, 

 we have not allowed for that, it is so small ; it is 

 something like one-third of a half of 1 16s. 8d. 

 II. \vonlrl roughly he in that cost about 10s. over 

 42 cwts. ; it is very -small. 



1 I. I!) I. Has the value of the second crop been taken 

 into consideration? There is no second crop. 



14,495. Have you allowed anything for the after- 

 math? Yes, we have given credit to the crop for the 

 afternwith or the second crop as we call it. 



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