6669. By Mr. CLARKSON: Were you on the land in South Africa?—I was general manager for a farmer who ran mail contracts in Rhodesia and in the Free State. My dog-proof fence is 3in. netting with a barbed wire at the bottom flush with the ground, and above the netting there is barbed and plain wire, making the fence 4ft. 6in. high. I cannot say if the dogs get over it or under it. Several of my neighbours have asked me to put one or two matters before you as they are worse placed than others who are better positioned. The department writes twaddle usually in reply to strong letters that we send them and treat us like children. We consider that the charge for wheat and chaff through the I.A.B. is much too high. We suffer more from the I.A.B. in this direction than from the drought. No rent should be charged for five years and that period should be spread over an extended term, and those rents that have been grabbed from us by the Government should be deducted and credited to the farmers. We owe £26 to the roads board. They might let that stand over, or, better still, it should be spread over a period of years similarly. The land taxation is a cruel injustice. We have lost £1,200, and when we are taxed, that land is capable of yielding nine bushels to the acre should only be priced at 3s. 6d. Surveyors should be relieved of any fear in recommending a fair reduction, as for a subordinate to check a superior officer's work must be distasteful. No obstacle should be placed in the way of a settler obtaining justice and the Agricultural Bank should take over the indebtedness of the I.A.B. The Railway Commissioner should provide facilities at the siding. We do all our carting, six or eight of us, within about three weeks, and we are refused a shelter shed at the railway and women have to wait about in the sun for trains. We are treated like Kaffirs and are out of the pale of civilisation here. Without a doubt we are outside the safety limit for farming and yet there is no deduction allowed for that. Our grievances are substantial and should be adjusted. We can get no real railway facilities, and we think that a farmer should only pay half rates going to Perth, considering the freight that he provides for the department. It is necessary for me to consult a dentist, yet I cannot afford to go because I cannot pay the full price of a railway ticket. The dingo trouble seems to be regarded as a joke by all political parties, and they only offer 10s. a scalp when each of them is doing probably £20 worth of damage. The housing problem should be attended to. I am not speaking on my own behalf, but the bulk of the settlers are living in mere shanties and knocking years off their lives. We have seen rosy cheeked women lose their womanhood. There is only one child in the district. The women never have an opportunity of change of scene and our work is so arduous that it is rarely that we can exchange conversations with our neighbours. The country, however, I consider is right enough if they would only administer good laws, but the waters in the Government offices should be god rid of.

(The witness retired.)

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PATRICK FRANCIS PILKINGTON, Farmer, Mullewa, sworn and examined:

6670. To the CHAIRMAN: I came here nine years ago and I hold 1,000 acres and have 6 1/2 miles cartage to the railway. I am a married man but have no family. I have a house, a shed for implements and horses, a well 40ft. deep. and another well of 18ft. of good stock water, which lasts all summer. I have 380 acres cleared and one paddock of 500 acres fenced. I have a drill, a cultivator, a wagon, harvesters, spring cart, and a buggy, but I have no working horses of my own, and no other large stock. I obtained £250 from the Railway Department, which was money earned. I owed the Agricultural Bank £195, and I think I owe £300 to the Industries Assistance Board.

6671. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have no crop in. Last year I had 150 acres and got 35 bags from it.

6672. Why did you not crop this year?—The Industries Assistance Board would not assist me. They said they would not assist me because I did not have a crop last year. Last year they sent me Federation, but Federation is no use in this district.

6673. Did you decline to take it?—I did not crop any land before in this district but I had experience in Narrogin, where I managed for Mr. Brown for nine years, and cropped land there. I had Federation down there and got 28 to 30 bushels to the acre on a 20-inch rainfall. The Industries Assistance Board sent super and wheat at the end of June. I had to start and cultivate it and that was no good. Unless you have the strength to fallow it is no use cultivating or dry ploughing.

6674. To Mr. PAYNTER: A man should not hold less than 1,000 acres, but ought to be able to fallow and cultivate 300 acres himself. I am certain that with a good team I could put in 300 acres with the assistance of a man to cart the hay and stack it. I am quite satisfied with the land terms, but I would not say that a man should pay as much rent 12 miles away from a railway as the man who is only six miles away from it.

6675. By the CHAIRMAN: What time did you start cultivating?—I borrowed some chaff at the end of June and got my own chaff a few days afterwards. I finished at the end of July with my cropping. There was no rain to speak of after that but if we did not get it in May it is no use at all. Then, again, I was a long way out. I ran over the whole lot with a harvester. I was going the whole day. I wrote and told the Department that the crop was a failure and that I had done my best. They replied they could not see their way to help me further, and they did not give me any store allowance, so that I have had to go out and work, and the land has grown up with undergrowth. Only a disc plough an a team of horses would keep it down. I have 300 acres of this, and if I had to chop out the undergrowth, by the time I had finished the last 100 acres I would have to start at the first hundred again, but with horses I could make a good job of it. Mr. Brown, of Narrogin, would give me good references, so would Mr. Piesse, Mr. Coweher, and Mr. Edwards, the overseer for Mr. Piesse. Mr. Brown has written to me twice to come back to him. He offered me £240 a year, but I have worked hard here and tried to make a home and keep my wife, and one is not so happy on wages as on your own. I want to stock my land. I would not