a week and keep for labour which I consider satisfactory. The hours of work are long at present, but all the year round they run into 10 and 11 everyday. A man should have 2,000 acres of land in this district, of which 800 or 900 should be cultivable and the rest suited for sheep. A man should crop a good deal if he has no sheep to attend to, but if he devotes himself solely to team work he could only do about 250 annually. It would be a good thing if we could get the farmers to co-operate. The present land laws are satisfactory, and the assistance given by the Government also.

7078. To Mr VENN : The sheep have paid me well since I fenced. I go in for wool, merinos. I have a few crossbreds, but do not like them and the market is not good enough or ready enough. If there were freezing works at Geraldton fat lambs would be a good scheme. There are three patches of poison on my place, box poison or York road, I do not know which. Rabbits have not troubled us yet, but they are increasing. I have 530 sheep but I must sell 100 as I shall be overstocked if I keep them. I can carry 400 to 500.

7079. By the CHAIRMAN : what price could you get for sheep at present? - I could get 16s. or 17s. for aged ewes; they would be fats.

7080. What is your opinion of the future of this district ? - On Oakabella our rents are too high, and, in addition to that, there is interest, but the price of land should be reduced and better marketing facilities provided. It costs 3s. to put a fat sheep on the market in Perth, and I am told that they waste four or five lbs in weight on the journey. If we could sell our fat sheep in Geraldton and had a market for pigs it would be all right if the seasons were good. I sent some down and it cost me 2s. 9d. a head, which cleared all expenses a couple of years ago. There is no reason why there should not be a train down on Monday afternoon, otherwise for those who had stock to send away it would be awkward.

7081. If you want to send produce or eggs away what kind of train service have you? - I do not know, but there is a poor market in Geraldton for eggs. I inspected this land before I took it up and I had an experienced man with me.

7082. Do you ask the state to make a loss on the land you are satisfied with, or do you want by means of exchanging to another locality, to make your rent lighter? - They are making over £10,000 profit out of the deal, from the sale of the estate. All the repurchased land has been sold. Schooling is my chief trouble. The Small schools are unsatisfactory, as the teachers are paid such a small salary and I should think, in a case like mine where there is no school within a reasonable distance, the Government would not be wrong in assisting us to send our children away. In the small schools when children get as high up as they can, the Government should assists them to obtain higher education. Our children have not an equal chance with the town children in the matter of education. Our children have not an equal chance with the town children in the matter of education. They allow 6d. for each child attending school here. My eldest girl used to ride to school, but in the hot weather the distance was so far she used to get knocked out with the heat. The roads are too bad for young girls to drive over.

7083. By the CHAIRMAN: The present Government have a scheme in hand whereby country children could obtain scholarships and offer increased facilities, but the whole question is a matter of money and of teachers, and the department is at a standstill for teachers as so many have gone to the front. The same remark applies to the Government doctors so that there is nothing but to face the inevitable and continue as you are, remembering that the Government in the meantime are doing all they can? - Before the war started we had a schoolroom, but the teacher's salary was only £60 without keep and it is impossible to get a good teacher for that paltry amount. I find it hard to raise the money to educate the child I have at school. Besides this I have had sickness at home and the doctor's fees are very high. On one occasion his fee was seven guineas to come to Oakabella, and I think a maternity ward in the Geraldton hospital would be of very vast assistance to this district. Since I have been at Oakabella we have had two children born and my wife had to go to a private hospital. The first case cost £ 13 and the second £ 8 10s.

7084. By Mr CLARKSON: What do you consider your place is worth under normal conditions as it stands ? - I suppose £ 2,500, including stock and machinery. I think I may consider myself successful in spite of the fact that I had no previous experience, and I am certainly better off than if I had remained a wages man.

7085. You put £ 1,300 into the land and seven years rent amounting to £784. Your own seven years work at £2 10s. a week may be added to that. Yet you say your place is worth £2,500? - Yes , but when a man is working for wages they are gone every week for ever.

7086. What I was suggesting is that farming here does not pay a man the same as other occupations, if you take into consideration the conditions under which you live.

7087. By the CHAIRMAN: By being a farmer, he shows a surplus of £1,500 in seven years which would be impossible as a miner? - If I could see my way clear to educate the children I would sooner be where I am. I was losing my health in mining , and all my old associates in mining are now dead. I work day and night on the farm sometimes, and I must say that wheat-growing alone does not pay, and if I had not had stock I would not have been where I am for three years.

(The witness retired) _______________

ROBERT HENRY WORTHHINGTON , Farmer, Linton Station , Northampton , sworn and examined :

7088. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been eight years in this district, and was a pastoralist previously. I hold 3,500 acres of C.P. grazing lease. It cost on an average 4s. 3d. an acre. There is no cultivable land. It is sand plain and limestone country. 35 to 40 miles from the railway station. I have 3,000 acres fenced, but have no house or buildings. The property is portion of Linton Station. The farm that I am working on shares belongs to my wife. The water supply is fair and permanent . The wells average 10 feet in depth. The area of the farm in my wife's name is 980 acres C.P. It cost 10s. and is three and a-half miles from the railway. The 550 acres are first class cultivable land. The whole of it is fenced , 350 acres is cleared and there is a permanent water supply in the wells . There is a pug-