§ Mr. L. SMITHasked the Minister of Agriculture what is the estimated average labour cost per acre of growing sugar beet in Great Britain, including the delivery of the crop to the factory?
§ Dr. ADDISONAn inquiry carried out by the Agricultural Economics Research Institute of the University of Oxford during the season 1928–29, showed that the average labour cost per acre incurred in growing sugar beet was £10 8s. 4d. on some 415 farms over the whole country. The total area to which this average refers was 4,380½ acres. The average cost of transport to the factories of the beet grown on this acreage was £2 11s. 11d. per acre or 5s. 9d. per ton 1763W of unwashed beet. Costings were also carried out by the Farm Economics Branch of the University of Cambridge Department of Agriculture on 100 farms in East Anglia in the 1928 season. The total acreage of beet involved in this case was 2,036½. The average labour cost was found to be £10 15s. 4¾d. per acre. The average transport cost per acre was not given, but per ton of unwashed beet it amounted to 8s. I would point out that the cost of transport includes the cost of haulage on the farm and the cost of transport from the farm to the factory by rail, road or water. These costs are difficult to analyse, and I regret that I cannot say what proportion of them should be charged to the account of labour.