building at all on the property. I possess a full set of implements, six working horses, but no other livestock.

7291. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have 290 acres under crop, 50 acres fallow, which look better than the other. I have an average of about 12 bushels over the lot. That is the highest yield I have had. In 1913 I got 15 bushels over 125 acres. It would take 12 bushels to pay the expenses of putting in and taking off the crop. Bulk handing would reduce the costs, especially in view of the present price of bags.

7292. To Mr. PAYNTER: Last year I had rust. I have pickled up to this year. I have never noticed any difference in the seed. I do not grade the wheat. I put in the 300 acres a year, fallow 300 and crop 300. The price of the land is altogether out of reason. I do not think any of it is worth more than 5s. an acre, judging by last year's productiveness.

(The witness retired.) —————————

WILLIAM HERBERT BALAAM, Farmer, Ogilvie, sworn and examined:

7293. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been here for six years, and have been farming since left school in the Northampton district. I was a farm labourer for seven years. I now hold 981 acres priced at 11s. 6d.; 400 acres are cultivable, situated 1½ miles from the railway. Four hundred acres cleared and all fenced and divided into seven paddocks. I have three wells of good water. I am a married man with two children, but they are not of school-going age, and even if they were the distance from the school would be six miles. I have a four-roomed timber and iron house, bush stables—which have now fallen in—no shed, a set of implements, five working horses, two cows, 50 sheep. I put £300 into the venture and owe the Agricultural Bank £450, and the Industries Assistance Board somewhere about £250. My outside liabilities are for machinery, amounting to about £300. 7294. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have 250 acres under crop, 90 acres fallow and the fallow was a long way better than the other—at least six bushels better. My highest yield was 11 bushels in 1913 over 200 acres. This year I expect an average of nine bushels. My best crop is generally from late wheats. I do my own work. The cost of putting in and taking off a crop is about 10 bushels to the acre. I have a three-furrow plough and do four acres a day with it; a 13-disc drill, with which I do 12 acres, and a 5ft. Deering harvester, with which I do on an average about six acres a day. Larger machinery would reduce expenses, and my country is not too rough for it. Bulk handing would also reduce costs in time, but at the start I think it would be expensive. Implements should come in free. If all my liabilities were funded and time given for repayment I could go ahead on my own, and I would prefer that to the present scheme.

7295. To Mr. PAYNTER: Last year I had rust. I pickle my wheat, but do not grade it. In this district a man should hold a minimum for mixed farming of 3,000 acres. The maximum we can do with my plant is 200 acres. I could fallow every year after I got a start. I consider that the price of the land is reasonable enough.

7296. To Mr. VENN: I intend to go in for more sheep. Most of us in this district are carrying sheep. I have had over 100 at one time, and they paid me well and a great deal better than wheat-growing. But one must have a run to carry a number of stock in order to make anything out of it. I suggest that the land rents should be held over for a few years and added on to the end of the team. Five years' exemption would be a good help.

7297. By the CHAIRMAN: Does the industries Assistance Board pay your rent?—Yes, but we owe it, and have to pay interest on it all the time, and they snatch it all when we get a crop.

7298. By Mr. CLARKSON: If there were deferred rents you would be entitled to a credit for the amount they snatched?—I suppose I would.

(The witness retired.) —————————

FRANK ROWLAND, Farmer, Hutt, sworn and examined: 7299. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been here for six years, and have been farming all my life in Western Australia; I am a farmer's son. I hold 660 acres, originally priced at 14s. 3d., now reduced to 12s. 9d. an acre. Four hundred acres are cultivable; 300 acres are cleared, and the whole is fenced and subdivided into five paddocks. My water supply consists of two good wells. I am a married man with two children; one is over school age and the other can go to school, but unfortunately it is closed. I have a hessian and rubberoid house. I have no stables or machinery shed. I have a full set of implements, five working horses, 150 sheep, six pigs, and poultry. I put practically no capital into the farm. I have had £500 from the Agricultural Bank, and about £300 from the Industries Assistance Board, and my outside liabilities are roughly £250.

7300. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have 180 acres of crop, 50 acres were fallow, which look much better than the other—fully four bushels better. My highest average yield was ten bushels over 100 acres in 1913. This year I estimate an average of 12 bushels to the acre. To pay the actual cost of putting in and taking off would require about 19 bushels to the acre. I do my own work. Bulk handing would undoubtedly reduce costs, and farmers' implements should come in free of duty. If my liabilities were funded and ten years given me for repayment, I would prefer that scheme to the other.

7301. To Mr. PAYNTER: Last year I had rust. I pickle my wheat, but do not grade it. I have not tried artificial grasses, but I have some fruit trees which are doing well, and also vegetables. I go in for poultry a good deal, and find it a very profitable pro-position. The minimum area a man should hold in this district in order to make a living should be 600 acres of cultivable land and another 600 acres of grazing land, or 1,200 acres altogether. The maximum he could crop under the best system of fallow and cultivation, single-handed, would be 250 acres. I consider that co-operation among farmers would be a very good thing, but there has been nothing done here in that direction so far. I consider the price ff land rents far too high, particularly when one considers the number of dry years we have here. I think 10s. an acre is quite sufficient for my own land. I