THURSDAY, 23rd NOVEMBR, 1916 (At Buntine.)

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Present: J. O. Giles, Esq., Chairman. B. L. Clarkson, Esq., H. H. Paynter, Esq., F. E. Venn, Esq.

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EDWARD DAVIES, Buntine, Manager for W. M. Collins & Cook, Perth, sworn and examined:

6381. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been in this district two years last April and have control of 2,000 acres of land belonging to Messrs. W. M. Collins & Cook. Not more than 600 acres are good forest. land . The balance is scrub and plain and there is poison on about 500 acres of it. Nine hundred acres have been cleared and 1,000 have been fenced with six wires. It is 1½ miles from the railway. There is one windmill and well 53ft. deep containing brackish water, but good and I keep the mill going day and night on the supply. The mill is in the gimlet and salmon country. The water is as clear as gin. I have all the necessary farming implements, seven draught horse and 13 pairs of fowls. I am a married man. The house consists of two jarrah rooms and a tin kitchen. There are new iron stables and a machinery shed. Everything, with the exception of the chaffcutter, is kept inside.

6382. To Mr . CLARKSON: five hundred and seven acres are in crop but none of it fallow. We have fallowed this year for next year . Last year I was teamstering, but when they started on the harvest the owners dismissed the manager and then there was another manager who oooupied the position for three months. He was a carpenter. I came in then for the management. Last year there was a 5½ bushel crop which the then manager estimated would yield 18 bushels, and therefore 2,000 bags too many were purchased. I estimate the present crop all through from 10 to 12 bushels per acre. The Alpha looks best. We have a 10-disc Shearer Plough. We use six horses on that and four horses on another plough. With the10-disc I can do about 10 acres a day. The cultivator is 16- time; a fair day's week would be about 15 acres. The drill is 16 disc. The harvester is an 8ft. Robinson. I cannot say how many acres that will do a day.

6383. By Mr . PAYNTER: Is that a Robinson "Big E"?— Yea, I pulled the extension off and she is doing great work with it. There was no disease in the crop last year. I pickle but do not grade the wheat, Although I believe in grading.

6384. To the CHAIRMAN : I have no family and there is not a school here. The nearest doctor is at Goomalling. If this country is well cultivated and ploughed it would be a good country if we had ample rain. I think the average is about 12 inches but I keep no gauge. We got plenty of rain this year only that it was three weeks late.

6385. To Mr. CLARKSON: I think the best crop will run about 20 bushels to the acre over 30 acres of Alpha. I have also Federation. I would just suggest that you should try Gluyas next year, as wherever we have been the best crops we have seen have been Gluyas.

(The witness retired)

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IVAN MEREDITH HOPE, Farmer, Buntine, sworn and examined:

6386-7. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been farming here a little over five years. I hold 2,500 acres. Before the railway came I was 33 miles away from a line; now I am four miles from a railway. Seventeen hundred acres of my land is forest country and the balance is scrub, and there is a little sand plain. I think there is heartleaf and other poison on the plain. The government charged 20s. and acre for one block and 21s. for another, but that price has been reduced to 11s. for the whole area. I have 460 acres cleared, principally forest ; there would be 50 acres of sand plain; 640 acres are enclosed in a ring fence. My water supply is very inferior, but I have tanks for domestic purposes. The water is brackish in the well which is 50 feet deep. It is a good supply, but it takes the horse all their time to drink it. I had approval for a dam from the Agricultural Bank to be constructed at 1s.3d. per yard, but that is insufficient and I am not in a position to pay the difference as the price would be 1s. 6d. I have sufficient farming implements and six draught horses, but I badly want another. I have a couple of foals and a light hack. I am a single man and live in a camp. My Stables are good and have an iron roof; they are the best about here, but I have not sufficient shed room to cover all my implements. I have a bough shed but it is not suitable for winter. I had a capital of £600, which I put into the land. The Agricultural Bank advanced me altogether £500 . I went to the I.A.B. for assistance owing to the 1914 drought. My liabilities to the board, including rent, would be approximately £200 , without the rent it would be about be about £100 . After My statement was sent in I owed £200 , including rent. My outside creditors are very small, my principal creditor is the I.A.B. In addition to last year's debt of £200, I have been drawing advances for this year's crop under the new scheme. The nearest school from