THE AORICULT 



URAL JOU RN 



45 



ing up (on day of receipt) on the 

 " received " or left-hand side of the 

 page ull live stock, seeds, and ferti- 

 lizers bought, foals and calves born, 

 &c., and writing off on the " given 

 out " or right-hand side of the page 

 all goods issued for use or consump- 

 tion, animals sold, died, &c, (see illus- 

 tration \ This book should have no 

 money columns ; it is merely a re- 

 cord of the mmihiv or quantitij of 

 live stock, wool, and other assets ; 

 not the value, which only concerns 

 the half-yearly or yearly balance- 

 sheet. 



(c) To keep a diary, which should set 

 forth briefly the chief events of the 

 day, such as births and deaths of live 

 stock, sheep dipped, grass burned, 

 work of natives (numbers, how em- 

 ployed, &c.) ; and particular care 

 should always be taken to enter all 

 future engagements, such as appoint- 

 ments, meetings, bills to be paid, and 

 accounts to be collected, under thrir 

 proper dates, so that when the diary 

 is opened on that date, the particular 

 engagement is instantly brought to 

 mind. 



{d) To keep other books, such as an in- 

 voice book and day book (both in 

 one), and a ledger, if business be 

 done on credit ; the working of these 

 is familiar to all Ijookkeepers, and 

 need not be enlarged upon. 



(e) To conduct all correspondence (if 

 desired). 



(/) To draw up balance-sheets and state- 

 ments of assets and liabilities periodi- 

 cally. 



An efficient man would I'equire fair re- 

 muneration, say £10 per month phis 

 board, lodging, &c. The cost of the 

 necessary books and sundries need not 

 exceed £2, and would last from two to 

 three years. There are possibly but few 

 farmers in Natal who would consider 

 themselves justified in going to the ex- 

 pense of employing a man solely to keep 

 their books and accounts ; a good book- 

 keeper, however, is always worth his pay, 

 and if he were intent on making his em- 

 ployer's interests his own, would be able 

 to relieve the farmer of many minor 

 worries, and to prove his usefulness in 

 various ways. Should the desire to do so 

 not speedily manifest itself, an early 



change would be advisable. A cheap and 

 iiu'iticient man, however willing, would 

 be worse than useless, as accounts impro- 

 perly kept are misleading, and defeat their 

 own object. 



Granting, however, that the employ- 

 ment of a bookkeeper would be too costly 

 foi- the majority of Natal farmers to 

 undertake at their sole expense, the cost 

 could be greatly modified by the adoption 

 of the co-operative principle, and the 

 sharing of the man's services by, say, three 

 or four farmers living in the same vicinity ; 

 01-, better still, by the engagement by the 

 local Agricultural Society of a capable 

 man, whose services in the opening and 

 advice on the continuance of a small set of 

 books and accounts would be available to 

 all members. Naturally, it would be im- 

 possible for one man to keep the accounts 

 of so large a number himself, but in this 

 case once the books were started, the ser- 

 vices of the sou or daughter fresh from 

 school, the tutor or the governess (in the 

 latter cases no doubt a little addition to 

 salary would be vei-y acceptable), might 

 be requisitioned, as less detail work 

 would be undertaken than in the previous 

 instance. 



The bookkeeper in this case would 

 probably look for higher pay than would 

 be asked by a man whose services were 

 confined to one employer, but he would 

 no doul)t l)e willing on the other hand to 

 act as secretary to the Agricultural Society 

 engaging him, and the members bespeak- 

 ing his services would be required to re- 

 pay the Society by way of an increased 

 subscription, or at an agreed rate. 



I am aware that farmers, as a rule, have 

 a strong objection to allowing an outsider 

 to have knowledge of their affairs, and 

 more especially would this be so when 

 such outsider would be constantly 

 going in and out amongst their friends 

 and neighbours, and might, if he chose, 

 reveal too much. Such indiscretion 

 would, however, be very foolish on his 

 part, and extremely unlikely, as anything 

 of this sort would be bound in a very 

 short time to lead to the offender's 

 summary dismissal. The same objection 

 might reasonably be made to the employ- 

 ment of bookkeepers in commercial 

 circles, yet we seldom hear of the revela- 

 tion of one firm's affairs to anoiher firm, 

 even when the bookkeeper transfers his 

 services from the one to the other. 



