I! —17.

66

[j. BROWN.

On a 200-acre farm, say, of average Canterbury land, could a man make a living out of that with sheep alone, and provide enough to bring up an average family ?—lt would take him all his time to do so, though he might. That requires some thought. I have not gone into it. Do you know anything better than the mixed farming in Canterbury to train a farmer ? —No ; it is a first-class system. Have you taken into consideration in your costs the depreciation in your land through cropping wheat ?—Not there. Do you think it is a factor worthy of consideration ? —lt is a decided factor on the marginal lands, but not on the heavier class of land. Naturally we have a rotation that we keep to as close as possible in order to keep the fertility of the land at its best state. Has there been any unemployment throughout the Ashburton district, particularly as far as Ashburton Town is concerned, during the last year or two ? —There has been a certain amount of unemployment there, but not so much as in other parts of New Zealand. Mr. Carr, as Chairman of the County Council, will probably be able to give you figures regarding that later on. Mr. Jenkins.'] I think you said that the miller gets all the benefits, and does not stand to lose anything : do you suggest that he does not bear his fair share ? —How do you mean ? Regarding the duties, I stated that at the present time the miller does not need to buy until he is ready to buy ; consequently, if there is a surplus, and the pool is working, the pool is left to carry the load. But the miller at the present time gets the full advantage, whereas the grower at the present time has to shoulder the surplus if there happens to be any ; and if there is a surplus, the price of wheat goes down, and that is reflected upon the grower and not upon the miller. Rev. Mr. Can.] Were the poultry men and the dairy-farmers not represented at that final conference when the sliding scale was arranged ? I did not hear you mention the poultry men and the dairy farmers as having been represented there ?—I was not present at the conference in Wellington, so that I do not know ; but at the conference in Ashburton —that was in December, 1925 —we had poultry men represented there. But you did not mention the dairy-farmers ? —I was not present, and I can only state the facts as I know them. Would the payment of bounties, in your judgment, be more likely to keep the price down % —I do not know. Do you recognize the advantages to the millers, as against the growers, by this sliding scale ? Do you think that some millers are going slow as a result of this restricted output ? —Of course, I do not know anything of the millers' costs —not so as to speak of them authoritatively. But still you would admit, in general terms, that the millers are deriving certain advantages from the sliding scale —perhaps undue advantages ? —Well, they have a decided advantage over the farmer ; in so far as the growers carry the surplus, the growers have to shoulder the lower prices. And the miller is on a good wicket ? —Yes. It all depends upon costs, and so on, and whether he can carry on. Ido not pretend to know anything of the miller's costs. He may be working efficiently or not; Ido not know. I have only given my opinions upon my own lines. You admit that there is a restricted output % —I do not follow you, Mr. Carr. I mean that the bigger mills are restricting it ?—I do not know. That is a matter for this Committee to inquire about from the millers themselves ; regarding the quota given to each mill, you may be able to get an answer from them. Mr. Macpherson.] You are familiar with the cost per acre of producing wheat. This cost of yours is, of course, based upon particularly easily worked land. I mean that your land is relatively easily worked, and as a consequence your costs are considerably lower than what the average cost would be for the whole of the wheat-growing area ?—Quite possibly. I am giving you my own figures exactly. But do you admit that your land is level and easily worked ? —Yes. The Chairman.] But his yield is not high, Mr. Macpherson—3l| bushels per acre ? —That is over a period of years. It is just your average yield ? —Yes. Mr. Macplierson.] You admit that your costs per acre are certainly lower than the average costs would be for Canterbury ? —That is quite true, because my land is free-working land. Not only that, but I am particularly fortunate in having a farm of such a size that I can employ a, contractor upon the place during the whole year, and consequently that contractor can afford to give a low price which he could not afford to give to any one outside—if he had to go from me to some one else, with a period of unemployment in between. That is a very important factor ?—Quite so. As a matter of fact, yours is a bed-rock price—the size of the land is just sufficient to give full employment to the contractor ?—That is so. In regard to the wheat pool, where we have a small surplus, as during the present year, is it your opinion that the miller derives considerable benefit from the functioning of the pool, inasmuch as he only comes on the market when he requires to buy wheat ? In other words, he does not require to stock up at the beginning of the. year. Knowing that there is a full quantity available, he allows the pool to carry the wheat, and he can keep his money invested in something else until he requires to buy the wheat ? —Yes ; but there is no reason why he should not have to pay just as much to the pool later on. In the event of supplies being cut off, would you consider that the pig-farmer and the poultry man would be at a serious disadvantage in buying offal from Australia ? —Well, if they had to get supplies from Australia alone, naturally the Australians could charge practically what they liked, or, rather, the price at which it could be obtained from other countries.