living there in a very rough style and have a poor house. Our sheds, too, are primitive, and I have a sort of plant, but I am very short of horses and have only four left. I have plenty of good stock water in wells. I am a married man and have four children, but there is no school here and that is a great drawback, whilst the nearest doctor is at Goomalling. From the time I started until now it has cost me between £2,000 and £3,000, £670 of which was lent by the Agricultural Bank, while the I.A.B. has been assisting me for two years past. My capital was £2,000. I think I must owe between £300 and £400, but I cannot say exactly.

6456A. To Mr CLARKSON: I have 250 to 270 acres in crop, but very little of that was fallow. In previous years the fallow was poor. I must have struck a bad year. We have had to go on cropping as we cleared. Fallow here would be treated differently from the way it is done in the South. Our country is similar to that outside Goyder's rainfall line in South Australia, and it required a lot of summer working. A man required 600 to 900 acres to enable him to have 300 or 400 acres fallowed to fall back upon. In my experience the best wheats in this localities are the late varieties, and I have tried both. The late has proved the heavier of the two. With the exception of the first year this is the best season I have seen. I put in 100 acres of early wheat and it went off in September, and the late wheat never came into head before the other was off. The September rains brought the late wheat on. Twelve bushels is the highest average I have had, but to pay working costs would take eight bushels. I have been using very small ploughs. With big implements the return would be better and less costly provided one had a big team of horses. Bulk handling, as I understand it, would not reduce costs, but the farmers' implements should be admitted to the State duty free.

6457. To Mr PAYNTER: We have had rust here, and I have pickled my wheat, and in some seasons I have graded it. We can grow fodder crops, but the season has been against them. Vegetables do all right until the end of August, but the white ants get at the fruit trees. I do not go in for poultry raising. No man should have less than 1,000 acres of first class land in this district, and he should be able to crop, with a little help at harvest time, fro 270 to 300 acres. I am a believer in co-operation, but you cannot get farmers to co-operate. I tried it myself here. If five or six of us could have co-operated, the one plant would have sufficed us. I think the land terms could be altered and extended term given for the payment of rent. A man should have 30 years to pay for his first class land, the same as for a grazing lease, and instead of pressing us as they do for our rent it should be allowed to stand over until the settler is in a position to pay, and he should not be charged a percentage on his outstanding accounts. One never knows here when the Government may forfeit one's holding. I held a block of land in South Australia during 12 years of a drought and many settlers cleared out; but it was different there. For instance, for four years I only paid interest on my block in South Australia, but for the Government's protection I could not transfer it until the rent was paid up. That method helped me and was certainly no loss to the Government. Personally, I think I can finance myself from this year's crop; if I get a good one. Otherwise I have nothing to complain of, and I should certainly prefer to be on my own under a scheme by which all bills were funded and the repayments spread over a period of years.

                  (The witness retired.)

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HERBERT THORNTON FOX, Farmer, Latham, sworn and examined:

6458. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been here five years and hold 3,120 acres. I was previously farming in Kokeby. I have cleared 530 acres, and I have a tank of 1,250 cubic yards, and have never been short of water. I put the tank down myself, and it cost me about 1s. 9d. a yard. I am now sinking another. The best tender that I got for performing this work was 2s. 3d. a yard. The Government were paying 2s. 9d. for the same work. I have two blocks, one of them is seven miles from the railway and the other about four. I am a married man but have no children. My house is hessian and iron, and I have bush stable and a bush machinery shed. I have a complete farming plant, five working horses and a cow. I had about £100 when I started here. The Agricultural Bank advanced me £300 on the first block, and I do not know how much I owe the Industries Assistance Board, but probably about £700.

6459. To Mr CLARKSON: I have 400 acres in crop but not fallow. My highest average yield last year was eight bags, but I lost half of that in a hailstorm. The best average yield before that was five bags. That was the year previous to the drought. It would take 12 bushels per acre to pay expenses, and no doubt bulk handling would further reduce costs, and if tank wagons were employed to bring the wheat to the siding the cost of bags would be minimised. The duty on farm implements should not be so severe. I think that I would prefer all my liabilities to be funded and the repayment spread over five or ten years.

6460. To Mr PAYNTER: I pickle, but do not grade my wheat. I have grown a small paddock of barley for the use of the cows, and I have poultry, but have not raised eggs for the market, although my wife intends to go in for that. No man can make a living out here with less than 1,000 acres, which should be cleared, and he should work it in crop, stubble, and fallow. Working on his own a man should be able to work 300 acres. I have tried to bring about co-operation amongst my neighbours, but found it impossible, although there is no doubt as to the advantages that would accrue. The price of land I consider to be excessive, and also a bad policy to have settled before the railways are constructed. The first direction in which the banks should lend money should be for water conservation. I consider the railway freight exorbitant. A family of two or three is compelled to pay about £1 a month more than they should for the various necessities of life. Freight also on wheat is exorbitant for the distance. It is ridiculous to expect a railway line in a new district to be a paying proposition. It is actually helping to develop the land; building material, and any of the small luxuries of life are an impossibility under the present freight charges. A neighbour of mine brought up lime in order to build his house, but the freight on the lime cost as much as the house. I