1921.] The Cost of Horse Labour. 813 



On the farms in question the ti ■[ ■ iation works out at an 

 average of £7 9s. 5d. per horse per ■ . ir, or 2s. 10.1(1. per week, 

 or 8Jd; per working day. The d L iciatioii of liorses varied 

 considerably on the various farms according to the system of 

 horse management adopted. The d&preciatipn of a horse is the 

 difference between its " buying-in " price when it enters the 

 stable, and its " selling-out " price when it leaves, and every 

 effort has been made to distribute tin t difference as evenly as 

 possible over the number of years tiled the horse remains on 

 the farm. Although in 1919-1920 on the 11 farms mentioned, 

 the average cost of upkeep per horse per year amounted to 

 £61 0s. 10d., or £1 3s. 6d. a week, and the cost of horse labour 

 per working day amounted to 5s. 9dV, the costs were found to 

 vary considerably, namely — 



(a) From year to year on the saib in; 



(b) From month to month on the same farm during the same 

 year ; 



(c) On different farms at the same time according to the 

 management of the horse labo . 



(a) The following table gives a summary of the .yearly varia- 

 tions in the cost of horse labour oh Farm A from 1914 to the 

 present time : — 



Table IV. 



Year. 



Yearly cost 

 of upkeep 

 per horse. 

 £ s. d. 



Weekly cost 

 of upkeep 

 per horse. 

 £ s. d. 



No. of working Cost of horse I about 

 ihi; ? per horse per per working day. 

 year. 



s. d. 



1914-15 



31 10 



12 1 



265 



2 4 



1915-16 



38 15 



14 11 



258 



3 



1916-17 



42 7 6 



16 3 



259 



3 3- 



1917-18 



52 3 4 



1 1 



, 218 



" 4 2 



1918-19 



58 8 



1 2 5 



232 



5 



1919-20 



63 4 9 



1 4 4 



. 218 



5 10 



1920-21 



60 15 



1 3 4 



216 





If the example quoted can be taken as typical of other farms, 

 it would appear that the cost of upkeep of horses reached its 

 maximum during the year 1919-20, and that while it is perhaps 

 too much to hope that the aver a g cost of upkeep will quickly 

 fall to its pre-war level, yet we may reasonably hope that it will 

 fall again before long to the 1917-1- yr possibly 1916-17 level. 

 Owing possibly to the shortening of the hours of manual labour 

 under the decisions of the Wag:- Board, there has been a 

 noticeable diminution in the numbe: of working days per horse 

 per year, and this was still furth- : ; rentuated when a tractor 

 was introduced on the farm in 1919-1 320. In every case inves- 



