like to leave it, although it is a failure so far, but I am certain that this is a good district if we had the means of working it, although a good many people abuse it. I know men in the district who are not doing anything with their land but are working out their teams. I wrote and told Mr. Paterson I would like to stick to it, but I wanted horses. When I got them nice and quiet they took them away when I was in the middle of my work. Mr. Paterson said I should get my horses, and then he received Mr. Mills' report, and he said that if I sent the money down the matter would be considered. I built a body for a double tip wagon and sent down £2 10s. A month afterwards I got a letter saying I could not get the horses or fencing at present. I have my lines cleared and jam posts on the line. I have a well, with 20ft. of good water. I am on the stock route, and I could have made the money to pay for the wire twice over, but I could not get on with it because I had no horses. At one time I was an expert for Massey Harris for 2 ½ years. Lately I have done 100 acres at 6s. an acre with a harvester. I have the promise of another 100 acres, which I could have taken off with a 5ft. harvester. I rented horses from Mr. May to take off 100 acres. I would like to go on with it, but I cannot do anything unless I can get horses to work. If I can get horses I will put in 300 acres this year. I could get 800 acres ready for cultivation out of 1,000 acres. Three years ago I was doing land guide work. I put a gentleman in Carnarvon on to the land that I now hold, but he afterwards wrote and told me that he would give it up, and that is how I came to apply for it.

(The witness retired.)

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WILLIAM CARSON, Farmer, Mullewa, sworn and examined:

6676. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been five years in this district and hold 1,000 acres. I had no previous experience of farming but was previously the town clerk. Half of my land is first class. I have a lot of good land, but it is stony, with surface stone. Which is expensive to clear. I have 330 acres cleared and eight miles of fencing. Six hundred and sixty acres are enclosed in the fence, and my water supply is a good well and windmill. The land is six miles from the railway siding. I am married and have six children, and one of them I have been driving every day to school six miles distant. I have a four-roomed bungalow dwelling, which cost me £200. I have a stable for my horses, and a shed, which does not cover all the implements, but there are some big trees there. which protect them. I want a four-furrow plough to complete my plant. I have five working horses and two sulky horses, three cows, a bull. and 30 pigs. When I started farming I put in £150. I have had a certain amount of assistance from the Industries Assistance Board. super., and instalments of machinery, and the total amount that I owe to the Industries Assistance Board is £50. I have other creditors. I am not clear about the matter, but I estimate that apart from that my liabilities are £202, still I think they have duplicated some of the items in the office, as I do not think I owe them more than £150, plus this year's assistance.

6677. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have 230 acres under crop, 100 of which was fallow. Unfortunately, I am no better off for that. In the previous year I had 100 acres of fallow and took one bushel more off that than off the other land. I put down to the good seasons. Crop seems to do well on any sort of farming on account of the rain. My highest average was last year, when I got 17 bushels to the acre, but this year I will not have more than six. I put the fallow in first with Yandilla King, 30 acres, and three acres of Currawa, but these two gave promise of coming to nothing, but when the rain came they were both saved. I had 80 acres of Comeback, which looked as if I would get nothing. I let a contract to cut the whole of it but only took off 50 tons of hay. I had 40 acres of Bunyip on new ground, which was too late. I am getting nothing off that.

6678. How many bushels per acre must you get to pay the expenses of putting in and taking off?—Ten bushels. I do not know that I know very much about bull handling, or very much more about tariff.

6679. To Mr. PAYNTER: I have had no disease amongst my crops. I pickled my seed every year until the present season. I did not grade it, but it has always been winnowed before setting. I have never tried to grow fodder crops or artificial grasses, but I think that something should be done by the Government in the way of importing seed to enable us to grow such crops. I am making some small experimental plots with some seed that I have now, but I am only experimenting in a small way. I would like to try trefoil. It does well around the town here. So far pigs have been profitable, and we have sold some. We were able to turn them off at six of seven months old. I generally grow a barley paddock, and they never leave it to touch the wheat when it is well grown. You can take them off it and turn them on it again. There is three of four months' feed for them. I think that no man should hold less than 1,000 acres of land, provided he had sufficient money to deal with it. Take my own position; I am struggling along with 1,000, but I have only 330 acres cleared, and I have not had the capital to do any more. I should like to clear more land so as to have 200 acres in fallow and 200 acres in crop. Co-operation should have been gone in for here, but so far nothing practical has eventuated, but I think the farming community should be able to make a success of it. There are anomalies in connection with the land laws that should be rectified. There are men who have taken up land in the earlier days for a song, while the others who came in later have had to pay through the nose for it. The land that I hold was taken up by a man at 10s. 6d., and he gave it up because it was too stony. When I applied for the same land they jumped the price to 12s. 6d. They had survey fees from my predecessor and got his homestead block for £1. but I paid £8 for mine. If possible the Government should assist the farmers with sheep preferably on the hire system. I have been making effort to lease 50 breeding ewes. This is common practice in other districts. To make farming pay a settler should have sheep. There is a certain amount necessary for home consumption. Personally, I have my salary as secretary of the Roads Board, but the whole of that salary is spent in doing work which I am unable to do myself. I took the farm up for the boy. It takes half my salary to feed my family and more than the other half of it for the man. My eldest son is at the front. I have another one of 19 years of age on the farm. There are so many things