FRIDAY, 24th NOVEMNBER, 1916. (At Latham.)

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

WILLIAM ALEXANDER McALPINE, Farmer, Latham, of Messrs. McAlpine and Taylor, sworn and examined:

6402. To the CHAIRMAN: I came here in September, 1909. We hold 7,200 acres altogether, of which 900 acres belong to Mrs Taylor. About half the holding is forest and the rest sandplain. I have not much faith in sandplain growing wheat. It has not been payable with us. We are about seven to nine miles from the railway; 670 acres are cleared, and the whole area, with the exception of 900 acres, is fenced. The fencing is of jam and wodgil posts 12 feet apart, with four plain wires and a barb. One block has dog-proof netting enclosing 850 acres. The water supply is one freshwater well 70 feet deep. We do not know its capacity, but it is over 6,000 gallons a day. There is another well of stock water about 45 feet deep. We have three dams, one 1,400 cubic yards, another 600, and a third about 400 cubic yards. I put them all down myself. I reckon that the last one cost me less than 1s. a yard. The big dam is eight feet deep, but has no water now. I am a married man. My wife and family live in Victoria because there is no school here. I have a four-roomed jarrah and hessian house, and a rough bush shed covered with iron. There is a ten-stall stabling and a loose box, and a six-stall stable at the other place, where Mr Taylor lives. We have applied to the board for more iron for our machinery shed. The one we have is not large enough. The wagon and dray are always out of it, although they should not be. We have everything in the way of implements except a crusher. I intend to take off the whole of the crop with a reaper-thresher. Last year I took off 2,950 bags myself, harvesting 588 acres single handed. I stripped for myself 440 acres, and cut 40 acres of hay, and I cut 50 acres and stripped 50 acres for other farmers. Mine are medium horses, but there is one heavy draught, and in all 11 working horses. The other stock consists of 18 head of cattle, 15 young horses, and some light mares with foals at foot. There are also 128 sheep, eight breeding sows, and a breeding hog.

6403. What capital did the partnership put into the land?—Between the two of us about £2,000 in addition to what the bank advanced. The Agricultural Bank advanced £675, and there has been another loan since, but they wiped that out because I did not go on with it at once. Mr Taylor has had £400, which makes the total Agricultural Bank advance £1,075. We do not know how ewe stand with the I.A.B., but we know they are wrong to the extent of £100. The statement was made up to March last. We do not know what they have got against us since that, but according to the March statement we owe about £200, including the merchants and everyone else. We delivered 2,600 or 2,700 bags of wheat. We owe the Board for this year's stores, but we reckon the 6d. payment that has been promised would clear it off. For instance, we owe W. D. Moore £13, but the Board has made a mistake and put it down at £25. We wrote pointing out the error but received no reply. Last year the rainfall was over 20 inches. Roughly, I think the average all through would be about 11 inches.

6404. To Mr CLARKSON: We have 470 acres under crop; 50 acres was fallow. Anyone who farms must believe in fallow, but unless fallow is worked it is not much good. Our best average since we have been here was 30 bushels to the acre in 1910, but there was only 50 acres, and of that 30 acres was Federation and the rest Baroota Wonder. We had some oats which went 35 bushels. The average last year was about 20 bushels, that is, 440 acres stripped for 2,950 bags. None of last year's land was fallowed. I reckon upon 15 bushels average this year. So far I have had the best average in the district.

6405. Will the fallow this year be better than the other?—No, because it was not good land. The sandplain was fallowed and was no good. I reckon we lost 300 bags. The 25-bushel crop was so low that it fell down in a hailstorm. I always believe in light sowing, but this year I have seeded heavier. Last year the first paddock of wheat I drilled was dirty. The Board gave me 111 bags of wheat for 400 acres, but I spread it over 500 acres. In the heaviest ground I put the lightest seed. 30 lbs., but it only panned out about 20 lbs., and I got six bushels out of that. The sheep were on the paddock when it came up and they pulled up a lot of it. I drilled in 20lbs. of super and 20lbs. of seed, and stripped 26 bushels. Federation is a good stooler; Lotts is not such a good stooler; I would not put more than 45lbs. of either late varieties in. I would put in a bushel of Fairbanks. On the forest land I would not advise putting in more than 40 to 50lbs. of super, but you cannot put too much fertiliser on sandplain. The most profitable land here is loam, with not much clay. It is salmon gum, York gum, ti-tree, and wodgil. We have about 3,000 acres of that. It is easy to work and will give a better crop than the heavy ground in a wet season.

6406. What is a fair average yield in a normal year for the district?—I think 12 bushels, and I think that 12 bushels at the present price of labour ought