altogether know what steps the Government could take to assist us in this district. So far as we are concerned freight is our only obstacle, but we are in a little bit more forward than the majority of the settlers. Still, revenue must be procured.

6361. What is your indebtedness to the board today?—I cannot tell you. All the business part of our farming is done in our own office in Perth. But whatever we owe there are last year's returns to come off it.

6362. To Mr. CLARKSON: If your debts were funded and repayments spread over a period of years and if we got the proceeds of the present crop we would be in a very good position. I cannot say how many settlers here have made a success of farming. Our own rent was reduced from 17s. 6d. to 15s. and the 5s. land to 4s. 6d.

6363. By Mr. VENN: Are any farmers going in for sheep?—I think some of them are making preparations to that end, and intend to go in for mixed farming. The grass is all right here for horses for four months in the year, but beyond that they merely existed upon it. I might mention that we want a school here badly. My brother has a young family, and would not have brought them here had we not been promised a school; none has so far materialised. I understand there are nine other children on this side of the line. I offered to put up the school and everything else when Mr. Hughes came up here on behalf of the department. He said that the school would be erected within three months. The Education Department seems to cater only for the city and suburbs. One of our settlers has been here for eight years, and his children have had no school to attend. If, as we are told, we farmers are the mainstay of the country, why should we not be looked after a little better? If it cost the Government as much as £100 a year in this district it would be no great loss to them.

6364. The difficulty is to procure teachers?—There are three schools in the Dalwallinu district, and yet we have none. Why should we be left out? Then again, there should be a man in charge of the siding here for the safety of the farmers' consignments. A lot of our stuff is stolen, and in the season this is a very busy siding. Our nearest doctor is at Goomalling and a telephone is very badly wanted.

(The witness retired.)

ALBERT ELLISON, Farmer, Wubin, sworn and examined:

6365. To the CHAIRMAN: I was the second settler to come here eight years ago, and travelled overland from the North-West. I have been farming all my life. At one time I was at Beverley; I was also at Burra, and on the west coast of South Australia, at Port Ellison. I took up 1,500 acres of land. It was all forest, and there are two blocks, for one of which I paid 13s. and for the other 11s. I have four miles to cart to the railway. I have cleared 260 acres and have six miles of fencing erected; 713 acres are enclosed by one fence, and there is another fence half a mile square in another paddock. I have a well 100 feet deep, and a dam. The wheel is good stock water; the dam is small, being about 500 cubic yards. I have all the implements I want for the present, and six working draught horses and four foals. I am a single man. I have no stable accommodation, but I have a bush shed for my implements. I started with a capital of £200, and in 1912 I went to the Assistance Board. From the Agricultural Bank I got £400 for fencing and clearing on the two blocks. Roughly, I owed the I.A.B. at the end of March last £32. I sent £456 worth of wheat away. I owe £98 to other creditors, and the 6d. dividend would just about clear me, I think. This year I have 204 acres to crop. None of it was fallow. My highest yield last year was 24 bushels. I sow 45lbs. of seed to the acre, and put in mixed Federation and Lotts and Unnamed, and put in 45lbs. of super. My land was never ploughed till this year. The crop was drilled in last year, and I got eight bags to the acre. I have a cultivator which was worn out and three horses. I did 20 or 30 acres a day with it. I have a 5ft. Sunshine harvester, and I might do one acre a day or none at all. It is hard to say what a man could do. I daresay bulk handling would be an advantage, but I have not given it much consideration. If it was brought into use I expect tanks would be largely employed. I have pigs, but they are not profitable, and I tried to get a boar from the Assistance Board but they would not grant it. I pickle and grade my wheat. A man could farm three or four acres a day single handed. So far as the land laws and rents concerned I think the latter are too high. Land on the Great South used to be fairy cheap, whereas here in distinctly dry country where the freights are high and the rainfall uncertain it is distinctly dear. I expect to have anything from 12 to 15 bushels this year per acre.

6366. How was it you got such a good crop last year while others had blight?—I had the best in the district. I had to cut and stack myself single handed. I have been trying to get a man to assist me, and there seems to be plenty of cold feet men in Perth. You have to pay their fares one way. I require a man until the harvest is over and am badly in need of one. I want one to strip and another to handle the hay.

6367. By the CHAIRMAN: Surely if the Government advance you the money to pay wages you do not expect them to provide you with a man as well?—I have no means of getting a man, and as a matter of fact I could not pay his fare.

The CHAIRMAN: Your best plan to communicate with the Local Bureau, and they advance the fares and make them a first charge against the wages.

The WITNESS: The I.A.B. have not paid any of my bills, and I cannot write anymore to them. Moreover, they have charged me an extra 12 months' interest.

6368. By the CHAIRMAN: That will be squared up in time; you must remember the board has over 3,000 of you to be looked after?—I had to wait from February to the 11th May to get a plough sent up here, which I think is far too long.

(The witness retired)

JOHN DAY, Farmer, Wubin, sworn and examined:

6369. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been here over two years, but was on farms in England all my life. I have 585 acres forest land eight miles east of this siding. I have 80 acres in crop and 150 acres ready to clear up. I have boundary fence with one barb wire. I cart my water four miles from the Wubin dam. I am a single man and I have no implements. I borrow them from my neighbours and I find it is the cheapest way. I have six working horses and some