A. SHIRTCLIFF.I

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Farmers' accounts : The following table serves to illustrate the progress of the smaller farmer who indulges in mixed farming, including wheat-growing. There are seven accounts, taken from each district in Canterbury South, so that I may obtain the average of the position : —

In Account A the capital invested is £1,652. He is a small farmer. Mr. Wright.] What is the size of his farm ? —lt might be 300 acres. In Account D the farmer went back £87 ; he is a very small farmer. In Account E, with liquid assets to the extent of £2,070, the improvement was only £4, which will serve to show you how the years vary with the individual farmers. In some years they do well; in others they look as though they were going out. In Account F, where there was a loss of £404, the position is that the farmer had a surplus of £1,100. In Account G the farmer went back in the first year by £7, and last year he improved his position by £99, and he had a surplus of £800. It will be readily seen from the foregoing figures that if the protective duties on wheat were taken away these farmers would most probably be forced out' of business. Flour-mills : An industry very closely allied to wheat-growing is that of flour-milling. With the large amount of money invested in plant and property, the protective duties on wheat are very necessary to the flour-milling industry also, in that mills here could not compete with mills in Australia without tariff protection. A good deal of labour also is involved in the running of flour-mills ; and, again, they are a source of revenue to the railways in transport. Besides the labour affected in the mills, considerable benefits in wages go out to labour in other occupations, such as coal-miners, railway employees, waterside workers, and carriers. No doubt opportunity will be taken by the flour-milling industry to submit expert figures regarding conversion of wheat to flour, and probably these could be continued from the bakers to the cost of bread, for it would appear that, with wheat at 6s. per bushel, 48 bushels give £14 Bs. to the farmer, whilst the baker receives £32 for the bread made from this flour —that is, 640 4 lb. loaves at Is. It would appear, therefore, that a range of conversion from wheat to bread is very heavy in intervening costs. I have based the receipts to the baker on the minimum quantity. Mr. Wright.] What areas would they range at, roughly, as to the schedule of farms you have quoted ?—Not more than 600 acres, and down to 250. You have had a considerable experience with the small farmers' accounts ? —Yes. Is it possible for the small farmer in Canterbury to make a success upon his land —say, an area of 150 to 200 acres —with wheat-growing alone ? —Not as far as he has got land suitable for wheatgrowing. And that land in the main would not be suitable for dairying I—No1 —No ; the dairying-land in our district is purely dairying-land. In what lam dealing with here lam referring simply to wheat land. You also know the land around Christchurch, North Canterbury ? —Yes. And the small farms in the Ellesmere district ?—Yes. Can those farmers carry on unless they grow wheat ? —ln my opinion, No. And in that district farms are held in very small areas, are they not ?—Yes. I suppose your experience goes back to the time when New Zealand used to export wheat ?—Yes. Before the rise of sheep-farming and the export of frozen meat ? —Yes ; we used to export anything up to 100,000 sacks per year through the Farmers' Co-op. You heard Dr. Hilgendorf's evidence with regard to the growing of wheat ? —Yes. If there were an overproduction, would you say as a business man that you should not export ? • —No ; I think an overproduction would be rather a good thing, in that it would encourage export and so bring new money into this country.

Account. Year. ' Debt. I Liquid Assets. General j Improvement jjack on y ear iburplus. on Year. £ £ £ £ £ A .. .. 1927 160 371 1,549 1928 211 532 1,626 77 1929 383 789 1,652 26 B .. .. 1927 2,244 3,030 1,944 1928 1,697 2,633 2,009 65 1929 1,499 2,431 2,175 166 C .. .. 1927 994 1,056 929 1928 1,004 1,178 1,044 115 1929 855 1,350 1,439 395 D .. .. 1927 347 383 708 1928 567 459 621 ! 87 1929 305 342 745 124 E .. .. 1927 3,719 2,439 1,228 .. I 1928 3,063 2,710 1,910 682 1929 2,694 2,070 1,914 4 F .. .. 1927 375 430 1,436 1928 462 562 1,487 51 1929 510 457 1,083 .. 404 G .. .. 1927 584 808 724 1928 440 626 717 .. 7 1929 335 616 i 816 99