Part 6

Page 392
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This transcription is complete

Mrs Wilhelmina Anna Arndt, wife of Franz Louis Arndt, Farmer, Three Springs, sworn and examined:

7459. To the Chairman: We came here in 1909. My husband has been working in the firewood trade on the East Murchison. We hold 450 acres of Midland Company's land; 200 acres are first class and the rest sandplain. The price is 21s. It is 3½ miles to the railway. We have 190 acres cleared. The whole is fenced. We have one well 85ft. deep, a two roomed hessian and iron humpy, and a bough shed. I have five children, three of them are at school. We have no stable and no implement shed. We have all the necessary farming implements and four working horses, a cow, two calves, a colt and a pony. We had £500 cash when we came here and we had £50 from my brother-in-law. To last March we were clear. We paid all the instalments to the Midland Company with exception of £48 which is due this year.

7460. To Mr Clarkson: We have 180 acres under crop, 18 acres was fallowed and it looks no better than the other. It is sandplain. The highest average yield we have had was in 1912, when we got 20 bushels over 100 acres. This year it will go about 15 bushels.

7461. To Mr Paynter: Last year we had rust. We have been pickling our wheat, but have noticed no difference. We put it through a winnower. We have three or four fruit trees and some vegetables, and we made £15 out of the garden last year, but nothing this year. We keep a few pigs for ourselves and poultry. I would not advise anyone to go in for Midland Company's land, for rents are too high. The land is not worth the money, and they are very hard people to deal with.

7462. What are the conditions under which you took up the land? -We had 15 years to pay the purchase money and 4½ per cent interest. We paid £230 cash down.

7463. To Mr Venn: Dairying would not pay here itself. One year the company made a mistake and demanded 2d. interest for each day after the date of payment was due.

7464. By the Chairman: Why did you take up Midland Company land instead of Government land? -My husband went to the Lands Department and an official told him that the nearest land he could offer was 40 miles from the railway and school and advised him to get Midland Company land. A sale of Midland land came on, so he got this block. If you got a couple of good prices for wheat, say 3s 6d. in good seasons, we would make a living without any assistance. We require a doctor or an experienced nurse in this locality. The nearest live at Moora or Dongarra. We lost a boy of eight years of age for want of medical attention.

(The Witness Retired.)

William Harris, Farmer, Three Springs, sworn and examined:

7465. To the Chairman: I have been farming here for three years. I have had previous experience in New South Wales and Victoria as a farm labourer, and I have also been storekeeping. I hold 789 acres on one farm and 100 acres on another, Government land. The purchase price is 16s. Of the 789 acres, 540 was first class and the rest hills, that cannot be cultivated. The other 100 acres is all good. The big block is seven miles from the railway and the small block six miles from the railway. I cleared 330 acres on the 789 acre block and on the other I cleared 30 acres, and the balance is all knocked down. The main block is fenced with six wires, except one end. It will take 2½ miles to complete. The 100 acre block is all fenced. The water supply is very poor in a well, 152 feet deep. It is drying up now and I have to cart water. It cost £228 to equip it. I am a married man with two children. I have a four-roomed wood and iron house, no stables, no machinery shed. I could not get any iron. I put £600 into it and borrowed £685 from the Agricultural Bank and I owe about £700 to the Industries Assistance Board. There is a second mortgage of £600 to the creditors. That was the consideration I offered for the place when I turned the store business over to them. That has nothing to do with the cost of working the farm. I have not had any advice or assistance from any departmental experts, and I have not heard of any of my neighbours being assisted by them.

7466. To Mr Clarkson: I have 280 acres under crop, but no fallow. To an extent I believe in fallow if I had the area. If I could clear another 300 acres, it would be profitable to fallow part of it every year. This year it was a failure. Last year was the first crop I had. I got 16 bushels off 206 acres. The rest was cut for hay. I do not think it—