SATURDAY, 25th NOVEMBER, 1916.

(At Perenjori.)

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

DAVID SMITH, Perenjori, sworn and examined:

6480. To the CHAIRMAN: I came here in early 1911. I was brought up at a farm in Victoria. I took up 2,000 acres, of which 1,400 acres are forest. I paid 16s. 6d. for one block and 14s. 6d. for the delivery. I have not received any notification of a reduction in these rates. My holding is five miles from the railway. I have 240 acres cleared and ready for cultivation, and I have 200 acres of scrub land rolled. Two hundred and fifty acres are enclosed in a fence. I have one dam 8ft. deep, 1,200 cubic yards in extent, which I put down myself. It would have cost about 10d. a yard. It has not been dry since the first water went into it three years ago. I have another dam of 800 yards, a house, stabling, and shed, but not a full farming plant. I am short of a binder and reaper, harvester and disc plough. I have five working horses and two others, and seven pigs. When I landed here my capital was £12. The Agricultural Bank assisted me with £360 and the Industries Assistance Board with £400. My opinion of the Agricultural Bank is a high one; my opinion of the Industries Assistance Board is mud.

6481. What are your particular grievances?—They would take two or three days to tell you. For instance, they have stopped my store allowance for three or four months. Perhaps a good deal of it is my own fault, as I have had disputes with the board since last January. They stopped my supplies because I would not fill in the declaration form they sent me. The year before last I put a crop in for another settler for what they supposed to be cash. However, owing to the war he could not pay up. Last September 12 months the board said that all accounts owing to sellers had to be put into the Board. I told my neighbour to put it in and heard nothing further about it. Last January I wrote to the Board and asked if I had been credited with the amount, but they would not say yes or no. Then they wrote to me about that declaration form and I replied that I would not sign it until they gave me satisfaction. In September they wrote and told me there was no surplus from that man's crop to pay the account and I contend it should be a first call on his credit. The Board appropriated everything. That was the year before last.

6482. To Mr CLARKSON: I have 240 acres in crop and no fallow. I believe in fallow but have had no experience of it since I came here. I like the early wheats and believe in a general system of fallow and selection of seed to suit the district, which would certainly increase the average yield. I use a bushel of seed to the acre and 70lbs. of super on forest land and 100lbs. of super on the light country. With two bushels of seed the best average yield I have had since I have been here was in 1913 when I had a return of six bags. A fair average yield for the district would be about 12 bushels in a year like this.

6483. How many bushels at, say, 10s. a bag would it take to pay working expenses and depreciation without allowing anything for yourself?—I never went into that.

6484. But surely that is the essence of the work?—No doubt.

6485. At how many bushels would you consider you would be holding your own?—Twelve. I have a four-furrow mouldboard plough, and a fair day's work would be three and a-half to four acres. I have a 17 cultivator and do 15 acres with it. A 13-disc drill with which I do 14 acres. I have not got a harvester. Last year I used a stripper and winnower which I borrowed. I think the ordinary 6ft. harvester is better than the 8ft., taking it all round. It would reduce costs if one used heavier implements, and had the power to pull them, so also would bulk handling which could be carried out by the farmer by means of a tank on a dray. I consider the tariff altogether out of reason and that farmers' implements should come in free of duty. I have always been a freetrader. I could carry on if the Government were to fund my liabilities and extend the repayment over a period of years, and I would prefer that tho the present system.

6486. To Mr PAYNTER: I pickle but do not grade my wheat. I have tried sorghum and Lucerne, and they would both do exceptionally well if I could irrigate. Pigs do well here and as soon as the wheat is off they are put on the stubble and do not want much feeding. No man should have less than 1,000 acres in this district and he ought to be able to handle 300 acres annually himself. I have had no experience of co-operation so cannot speak of its advantage tot he farming community. I think that the farmer should have his land given to him because when a man goes on the land there is no return until he crops it. In Victoria, on the other hand, as soon as