10 



re, air*, drainage, Ac., which in the case of a tenant 

 farmer, would be borne by the landlord. 



In the caae of (6) the Mime remarks apply, and UMM 

 accounts may also be affecte 1 by the allocation of expense* 

 between the farm and the estate, l>y the price at winch 

 farm produce, *., U supplied to the owner, and by such 

 factors as the ready supply of capital, the re<|uir.-im-iits 

 of the estate and the tendency of the owner to specialise 

 in certain cases. 



J'nrngr<t]>h 14. 



COSTS OK PRODUCTION. 



The Committee endeavoured to obtain Statements of 

 Costa of Production from certain farmers who are 

 keeping Cost Accounts. 



In some cases they had already given evidence before 

 yonr Commission, and in the others they have failed to 

 return their figures. In many cases they have only 

 recently started to keep Cost Accounts, and their results 

 for a complete year have not yet been ascertained. 



It i regretted, therefore, that no Statement of Costs of 

 Production can be submitted meantime. 



15. 



(iKNKiiAL. 



The Costings Committee is not in a position to verify 

 the accuracy of the accounts received. No examination 

 or investigation of these accounts has been made by the 

 Costings Committee, except that corrections of the profit 

 l>:ive been made in respect of inadmissible items shown 

 on the face of the accounts, or where similar information 

 has been furnished in reply to Question 5 in Schedule B. 



They do not, therefore, accept any responsibility for 

 the accounts dealt with. These have apparently been 

 forwarded in good faith, and without ulterior motive, and 

 purport to be copies of accounts which had already been 



prepared in the ordinary course at the end of the financial 

 year Wore the Royal Commission was constituted. 



In a number of cases Schedul. s B and answers to 

 questions have not yet licen returned. It is possible, t In-r.- 

 foiv. ili.ii tln> results shown in this interim report may be 

 iiiinliticd to some extent, but it is not anticipated that 

 any material adjustment will have to In- made. 



The fact that only limited conclusions can be drawn 

 from the financial results of one year emphasises the 

 necessity for periodical returns of financial rewults U<in^ 

 obtained on a wide scale, not only of farming generally, 

 but of the chief systems of farming practised and of the 

 results in the various areas of the country. 



A general perusal of the accounts submitted indicated 

 that the standard of account keeping in the industry is 

 capable of improvement. 



It is probable that the accounts that have been received 

 have been prepared in a number of different methods, and 

 some of the systems of account keeping adopted are not 



It also appears that in a number of cases the whole of 

 the cash received is not paid into tin- liunk intact, and no 

 complete record kept of all the financial transactions. 



Further, in many cases no ledger, or books to record 

 purchases and sales, are kept. 



The Costings Committee is preparing systems of 

 accounts adapted to farms of various sizes, and for the 

 different systems of farming, which may be of some 

 assistance in arriving at a uniform method of accounting 

 so far as that is possible. 



These systems of accounts aie being framed so as to be 

 used with or without a full costings system, and the 

 Costings Committee will do all in its power to promote 

 the keeping of records throughout the industry. 



The Costings Committee would like to express its 

 appreciation of the ready manner in which the fanners 

 approached have submitted their accounts, in spite of the 

 fact that they were heavily handicapped by their harvest 

 work. 



H. G. HOWELL, 



Director uf Atjrii-iiUurnl Cottt, 



