Part 5

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am a married man with four children, but there is no chance of schooling here.

6398. To Mr. Clarkson: I have not seen a crop off the land until this year, but it should go about 12 bushels. I pickle the wheat and grade it. I seed 43 lbs. to the acre, and 50 lbs. of super in the early part, and in January I sowed 70 lbs. to the acre. We have Federation and Yandilla King. I had a long experience as a farm hand.

6399. What do you consider a fair day's work for your four-furrow mouldboard plough and six horses? - Five to six acres a day. The 17-tine cultivator would do 12 to 14 acres a day, the 13 - hoe drill on the average about 12 acres, and the binder per day would do about eight acres. A 6ft. harvester would do about eight acres, but a great deal depends upon the weather, and what time you get out in the morning.

6400. To Mr. Paynter: I am on half shares in this venture. The landlord finds the land, half the seed wheat, the bags and twine, the fertiliser, all the horses, and implements, and the proceeds are half and half. The man finds all the labour required. This year I ploughed myself 225 acres with a six-furrow disc and drilled it. I had one man, and besides the 225 acres which I put in on my own, I put in close on 400 acres last year, but about 90 acres of that were cultivated. The balance was not fallowed, just cultivated. A man should be able to fallow, cultivate and seed next autumn and take off 300 acres comfortably. 6401. What do you consider to be the average hours you put in? -I do not put in more than eight or nine hours with the machinery. One does not get a start until seven in the morning, works on till 12, there is an hour and a half for dinner, and then works till 6 p.m. I have not seen any poison on the property, but if there is any it would be heartleaf. Most of the country is gimlet. I have not been much around the district. I came straight to Nelson's and then to where I am now.

                             (The Witness Retired.) 

The Commission Adjourned.