WALLACE CARLTON McCORKHILL, Farmer, Ajana, sworn and examined:

7202. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been settled here for four years, and I spent four years farming in Victoria in my youth. I have since been prospecting on the Eastern Goldfields. I hold 999 acres, the price of which is 12s. under the repricing arrangement. Seven hundred acres is first class cultivable land; 50 acres is sandplain, and the rest is stony. It is four miles to the railway. I have cleared 300 acres, and, with the exception of 54 chains, the boundary is fenced. The water supply is a well, 70 feet deep, which makes 2,000 gallons a day and can be improved upon; it is good water. I have only one child, who has been getting lessons at home.

7203. By Mr CLARKSON: Have you sufficient water to carry sheep?—I would have after I have put a few more shots in it. At present I cannot bale it. The bank has granted me a windmill. I have a good house, but no stable and no shed. I have got a reaper and a binder. I have four working horses, but no other livestock. I put £1,100 into the property, and borrowed £485 from the Agricultural Bank. Approximately, by the time I get my cropping off, I shall owe about £400, with all my expenses paid for this year and the crop in reduction of my indebtedness. I am not including the 6d. further advance made us last year. I was clear of everything when I went to the Industries Assistance Board, but there have been payments on implements since, which are probably included in their claim. The rainfall last year was 20 inches, but it is erratic. This winter we had a splendid season until the first week in September. In that month we had no rain. Then we had hot weather; the thermometer reached 105 degrees, and that settled the crop.

7204. Can you cite any other instances of erratic winter rains?—No, except that in the other years here most of the rain is in the beginning of the winter. We get most of it in June and July, and it does not tail out well. I have not been assisted by the advice of any of the experts of the Agricultural Department, although Mr Sutton visited the district, but there has been no continuous effort on their part. This year I have 280 acres in crop, 40 acres was fallow and it is at least 50 per cent. better than the other. Fallow is the only method. One has to plough as soon as the rain comes; in the meantime one would have to cultivate and that wold depend on the state of the ground—once in the spring and again in the summer. I do mine with a spring-tooth.

7205. Would not a heavy barrow do as well for cultivation?—The ground breaks up easily with strong harrows. I cultivated that field you see there three times; it was a good seed bed, and I got 27 bushels off it.

7206. If you had had it fallow, how much would it raise your average?—In this district I consider it would increase at the lowest estimate 50 per cent.; probably it would be nearer 100 per cent. I sow an average of 50lbs. Sometimes I sow as low as 42lbs. and sometimes over a bushel. The early wheats I sow more, but some of them do not stool. Of Gluyas, one should not sow more than 45lbs; it is a splendid stooler and by far the best wheat here. That which you see there was sown in May. I prefer the early wheats; there is no chance of late wheats, nothing later than Federation. I sow an average of 56lbs. of super., or rather from 30lbs. to 80lbs.,according to the class of land.

7207. What depth did you plough with fallow that had good crops?—Four inches. It had had a crop before, which was a failure. if I fallowed it I would plough as deep as four inches. Over the whole area of 166 acres it went 12½ bushels; that was last year. This year I estimate it at about nine bushels over 260 acres. Twenty acres are cut for hay. The expense of putting in and taking off the crop amounts to 32s., which includes interest and £150 wages for myself. I use a three-furrow disc plough, and a fair day's work is three acres. A 13-disc drill does nine acres, and a six foot harvester five acres.

7208. Could you reduce your costs by employing bigger machinery?—Yes, but I do not think bulk handling would reduce costs, as there is not enough wheat in the country to make the scheme pay. if bags were always at the same price as they are now, probably it would, or if there were only one port of shipment. I consider that all farming implements should come into the country free. 7209. If your liabilities were funded and ten years given for their repayment could you finance yourself from the proceeds of your own work?—Undoubtedly, and I would prefer it to the present method. 7210. To Mr PAYNTER: Last year I had rust and septoria. This year I did not pickle my wheat, although I have done so up to the present. I think it pays to pickle with a light solution. I do not grade it. I do not think fruit trees would flourish here. I have a few vines bearing a few grapes, but that is on land where there is a good subsoil. On the whole there is not sufficient rainfall for fruit trees. I keep pigs for my own use. When I pay wages it is 9s. a day. The minimum amount of land a man should hold in this district should be 3,000 acres to enable him to carry stock, and farming cannot be made to pay without stock. The maximum a man should crop himself under the best system is 200 acres. I do not consider the land laws too good. A man has to start to pay rent before there is anything productive from the land. Every penny of his capital should be put into the development of his land. I would suggest the land should be made free for the first five years, as no farmer can produce a crop before then. In the dry areas I consider the price of land should be greatly reduced. I have had experience in Victoria, where first class land was £1 an acre, but 320 acres was the maximum allowed each man on which he could make a good living. No first class land here should be more than 10s., and third class should be free; in fact, a man should be paid for holding it. Clearing costs 30s. level with the surface. My clearing has been a little heavier, and one thing that must be considered here is the quantity of stones on the land. You cannot get a decent run of country without them, and they rise up at every ploughing. But the first cost is clearing them off.

7211. To Mr VENN: I have just got a loan for sheep from the Agricultural Bank. The rabbits do not trouble us yet. Our only serious pests are kan