Part 5

Page 296
image 57 of 98

This transcription is complete

you go on to land you can stock it straight away. That cannot be done here. The land looks cheap on paper.

6487. To Mr. VENN: I would go in for sheep, but I think there would be trouble from dogs, so one would have to yard them every night; but the country is good grass country. We have a school here, but the nearest doctor would be at Geraldton. My cows milk well on the natural grasses, and I think that farmers should keep more cows. I do not know the existence of any poison here, but there are a few rabbits about.

(The witness retired.)

________________


HENRY WILLIAM DOWNER, Farmer, Perenjori, Chairman of the Roads Board, sworn and examined:

6488. To the Chairman: I have been settled here for five years, and was previously farming in Victoria. I hold 1,000 acres situated 11 miles east of the railway. The Government charged 11s. 6d. for the land. It is practically all forest country. I have 300 acres cleared. I have 450 acres fenced, and subdivision fences, but that has only one barbed wire. My water supply is a well of beautiful water 50 feet deep, and it is used by all the teams. I am a married man. My house is four rooms with a verandah. I have four children, but they are too far away to go to school, so two of them have been sent away to boarding school. Our nearest doctor is at Dongarra. I have all the farming implements except a plough, also four working horses and a couple of pigs. I am one of the oldest settlers here. Before coming here I was in the P.W.D. I did not inspect the land before selecting it, but took the word of the department. It is a first class block and the description is quite accurate and satisfactory. I sold my wife's property for £250 and put the proceeds into the farm. Clearing costs 27s. 6d. to 30s. I have been assisted by the Agricultural Bank to the extent of £250, and obtained a further loan of £125 for stock. I am under the I.A.B., and as far as I can tell, with the last 6d. dividend I am clear of the I.A.B. I think I owe about £30 to other creditors, but last year's operations would have cleared that. Approximately this year there would be super to be added and the bank charges, probably not more than £150 including rents. I am chairman of the roads board, which extends south beyond Latham to Pintharooka. We also take in Morowa. We have one or two poisons, kite leaf and breelya in the Latham district, but in this district we are free. The good land in the Perenjori district runs east 16 miles (east of there is good country but it has been abandoned because the bank will not advance upon it) and 10 miles north, south, and west, or, say, about 250,000 acres.

6489. By Mr. CLARKSON: Why will not the bank advance to the eastward?—They say it is too far out. Without fallow they grew a decent crop in 1914. It was all scratched in, and when the Wilson Government went out this was thrown open.

6489a. By the CHAIRMAN: The area is 250,000 acres in this location, and that is a large quantity to be in one good patch. The ti-tree land grows good crops. The Perenjori rainfall is given at 12 inches. I am perfectly satisfied we can grow first-class crops here, as there would be seven to eight inches in the growing period. Last September was most exceptional. Mr. Holmes, of Cadgy, which is east of Pintharuka, in giving evidence recently, was wrong when he said this district had an insufficient rainfall, but of course a squatter does not want to see the farmer come along. As a matter of fact, we have had rain every year, and in a dry season we get sufficient rainfall to work our horses. The roads board valuation of unimproved value is one penny, and the first class land is assessed on the basis of 11s. 6d.

6490. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have 270 acres under crop. None of it was fallow, and I never had fallow. We get good thunderstorms here in summer, and immediately we can work the land up we do so. I had eight or nine bags to the acre of Alpha last year, that was over 100 acres. I had altogether about 200 acres in crop, and my average would be 15 bushels. Apparently the return will be about the same this year, but it is only scratched in roughly. I use one bushel of seed and 60 to 70 lbs. of super to the acre. I have a little light country in my holding which I give 100 lbs. to. I think 15 bushels is a fair average for the district. I cannot say actually what the average cost of putting in and taking a crop off would be as I have only been here a short time and my own experience would not be a fair criterion. My boy is helping me. I should think, however, that 12 bushels would be about the mark.

6491. You do not use a plough?—No, but I shall do so this year. I use a Sunshine harvester, and we have been doing six or seven acres a day with it. Last Monday I took off nine acres, but I was working a double team. Bulk handling would undoubtedly reduce costs, and we have come to the conclusion that tanks would be the method for conveying the grain to the siding. We are fallowing on the lines laid down by the Kunnunoppin settlers. I consider that farming implements should come into this country free of duty, also cornsacks and oil.

6492. To Mr. PAYNTER: Our crops have never suffered from any disease. We pickle our wheat. This year I shall grade it, and I shall be trying vegetables easily. I have only just started to keep pigs. I think that for one man in this district 1,000 acres is enough for him to go on with. To hold more would be a mistake. He should be able to work 300 acres himself. I am a believer in co-operation amongst farmers and may say that we have had notice from the head office of the Farmers and Settlers' Association asking us to form co-operative societies in each district. The feeling here is strongly in favour of it. If our land laws were more liberalised they would tend to encourage settlement to a far greater extent. Take my case for instance. I asked for a loan for fencing, but Mr. McLarty thought we did not have sufficient rainfall here, yet it is considered sufficient at Three Springs, from which we are only 40 miles distant. We have had rains this week and our operations have been stopped for a week as a consequence. I think that holdings should be free of rent for five years. We have weeded out the men that would not make a success of farming and those who are left, especially now there is an inspector, should make good. The land laws are a great advertisement for the State, but I am strongly of opinion that each man should have at least 600 acres of land cleared.

6493. To Mr. CLARKSON: If our liabilities to the Government were funded and 10 years given for