MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



57 



21 October, 1919.] 



MR. E. M. NUNNELEY. 



[Continued. 



15067. It would only happen if wages fell generally 

 to that level throughout the country? I suppose 

 no. I hope not. 



15.068. And therefore it is unlikely that a reduc- 

 tion would enable you to accept the prices which 

 existed before the war, and yet enable you to cul- 

 tivate? Yes. 



15.069. So that the result of letting the farmers 

 take their natural course would be the result of 

 reduced production? Yes, a great deal of land 

 would go down to grass again. 



15.070. Which you, personally, find an advan- 

 tageous way of farming? Yes. 



15.071. And which many farmers find is advan- 

 tageous? Yes, I think that is the only way. 



15.072. But which would result in reduced pro- 

 duction? Yes. 



15.073. Mr. Smith, : Have you any suggestion to 

 make as t.> what could be done to help agriculture 

 in the future from a national standpoint? I hardly 

 like to say ; but one thing strikes me first, and thajt 

 is sweeping away the Wage Board. 



15.074. All that will be considered? It is not so 

 much with regard to wages as with regard to hours, 

 I cannot for the life of me see how agriculture can 

 be carried on on a strict 8 hour day, or anything 

 of the sort; because an 8 hour day means only five 

 or six hours work, and I cannot see how it can be 

 done. 



15.075. In your consideration of this matter, you 

 have not come across anything else that might be 

 done to help the industry, have you? Of course, 

 prices may he guaranteed. That would all help. 



15.076. Have you thought of the question of the 

 improvement of transport, as to whether that might 

 hf-lp? Yes, that is a very important thing. I have 

 for years been on about our railway rates. We are 

 charged more for the carriage of English goods than 

 foreign produce is charged. All those little things 

 help, although comparatively small. 



15.077. Do you think if something could be done 

 in improving transport facilities, it would help agri- 

 culture? Yes, cheaper transport would. 



15.1 i7-i. What about scientific research? Do you 

 think there is anything beiK-ficia.1 possible in that 

 direction? Yes. I do not say there is not, but I 

 think it will be a very slow process. I think our 

 grandchildren will benefit from it more than we 

 should. I think it will take many years to make 

 much difference from that. I do not want to throw 

 cold water on it at all. I think it is a very im- 

 portant branch. 



15.079. Did I understand you to say it took your 

 men 1$ hours to go from the farm buildings to their 

 work in some parts of the farm? Yes. 



15.080. How far is the furthest point? About 2^ 

 miles, or a little over at the furthest point. If they 

 go by the road it will be very nearly, if not quite, 

 three miles. 



15.081. You would not suggest, would you, taking 

 your farm as a whole, that you -would have reduced 

 your working hours by 3 hours per day because of 

 the time it takes to get there? No. I only say it 

 with rrgard to this land at the furthest point, and, 

 therefore. I am laying all that land down to grass. 



15.082. I rather understood you to say in regard 

 to labour, that if the 8J hour day becomes operative, 

 you will not be able to get more than 5 working 

 hours from your men? From the horses more par- 

 ticularly, and the men with the horses. 



15.083. Do you really suggest that seriously that 

 3J, hours will be taken up? Yes. I do. We can 

 reckon it up if you like. In fact it will take more 

 that that. My horses must be fed, and someone must 

 I e there to brush them, feed them, and put the tackle 

 on at least an, hour before they go out. 



15.084. Do they not always come before the other 

 men and always did so? Yes; but I said if the 

 8J hours became compulsory and nobody was allowed 

 to work morr. I thought there was some idoa of that 

 fort. 



15,080. You do not soriously suggest that that ever 



was contemplated, do you? I do not know what, is 



Nt'-Tnplati-d. I only know what is stated in the 



papers and in the Bill. I believe the Bill states that 



except under certain conditions, which I have not 

 seen, no man shall be allowed to work more than 

 48 hours per week. 



15.086. Which Bill are you referring to? The Em- 

 ployment Bill, No. 2, 1 think it is. 



15.087. Surely in that Bill there is provision made 

 for overtime? I thought only on special occasions by 

 special permission. 1 have not seen the full Bill. I 

 have only seen a clause quoted from it in the papers. 



15.088. Do you understand that at the moment agri- 

 culture is not withir. that B.ill? At die moment; but 

 I understand a very strong effort is being made to 

 bring it in. 



15.089. You do not suggest from anything the 

 Wages Board has done there is any restriction put 

 on working hours, except so far as it is necessary 

 to determine the number that should be worked for 

 the minimum rate of wages? That is all the Wages 

 Board have done. I have said repeatedly, and I 

 stick to it, that men will not work regularly more 

 than the statutory hours. A horseman will come in 

 the morning 



15.090. Do you suggest that your horsemen do not 

 do enough work, longer than the hours fixed ? 

 I say the horseman will come in the morning and do it. 



15.091. Does not that, therefore, destroy your fur- 

 ther suggestion that you cannot get more than live 

 .vorking hours from your horseman in the field? No, 

 rot on that land furthest away. 



15.092. But you spoke rather generally, did you not, 

 .vhen you said you could not get more than 5 working 

 hours? I was speaking of that land particularly, 

 1 think, because I was saying that land could not be 

 cultivated. It is in this way. Suppose you take it 

 on an 8$-hour day, it would mean 10 hours, including 

 meal-times, say, from 7 to 5. That is about the time. 

 The men leave home and do not get to our place at 7. 

 Agricultural labourers reckon the time they leave 

 home and not the time they begin work. It would 

 take them 10 minutes, say, to get to the buildings, 

 and they then have to get the horses out, and it is 

 at least a quarter of an hour or 20 minutes before 

 they start. It would take them an hour and a quarter 

 at least, walking well and faster than they generally 

 'io. to get to the furthest fields. They have to get 

 the horses ready, and put their nose bags down, and 

 ;;< the horses to work. It is a full 1^ or 1J hours. I 

 'invo seen it myself. I have often been on those fields, 

 and know when they start from home and get to the 

 fields. It is over an hour and a half. 



15.093. Do you seriously suggest that the agricul- 

 tural labourer considers his working day starts when 

 he leaves his house? I suggest and say distinctly, 

 that for years when our time began at 6, I was out 

 in the nckyard to meet my men practically every 

 morning, and they never came in before 5 or 10 

 minutes past. Once or twice, when I have said a word 

 to them about it, and that I thought they ought to 

 he there sooner, they have said to me : " I was coming 



'out of the door when the clock struck 6, and I think 

 1hat is good enough." They do come out of their 

 liouse when the clock strikes the supposed time foi 

 starting work. 



15.094. And that irrespective of how far they live 

 from the farm? Yes, quite. Men who live farther 

 off oome later. 



15.095. Do you suggest if men have to walk, say, 

 half an hour or 15 minutes and some 10 minutes, 

 they arrive at the farm at varying times? No, they 

 all come in about together. 



15.096. Then how can they leave their houses when 

 the clock strikes ? Because those that live close to my 

 rickyard, in their own cottages, waited until the men 

 at the farther end of the village came up, and then 

 they came in with them. 



15.097. There must be some wonderful under- 

 standing amongst your men? It is always the way. 

 If you nad worked on the land for 40 years you 

 would know it. It is always the way in our part. 



15.098. I did not think the mind of the labourer 

 was so subtle as that? It is always the way. My 

 men always came in a body from 5 to 10 minutes 

 past 6. 



15.099. I suggest you have exaggerated the position 

 here so far as the difficulties are concerned? I do 

 not think I have. 



