the farmer more latitude it would be better for them. If they extended the loan and let them work from the proceeds of the crop they have now, it would set them all on their feet.

7502. By Mr. CLARKSON: On what terms do you hold the 14,000 acres?—Pastoral lease, £1 per thousand acres. It is sandplain.

7503. On what terms do you work share farming?—I think share farming is the best thing for the landlord. I work it on the one-quarter and one-third. The share farmer finds everything except the land. I have a man with 360 acres from me. He has given me one-third of his crop. He finds everything, but I find the implements and water and house to live in. He is further away than the other farmers.

7504. How many bushels does it take to pay actual costs from the time you plough till you put the wheat on trucks?—Twelve to 13 bushels. It would cost the man who does his own work nine bushels and the man who pays wages about three bushels more.

(The witness retired.)

JAMES KINNEAR HABITON, Farmer, Three Springs, sworn and examined:

7505. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been here for seven years and was previously a guard in the Railway Department. I have 482 acres which cost £1 an acre and 300 of them are first class land. I have 150 acres of second class land and 30 acres of stone. The property adjoins the town. I have cleared 350 acres which is subdivided into four paddocks with three wires. I have two dams and three 3,000 gallon tanks. I am a married man with three boys attending school. I have a four-roomed weatherboard and iron house and no stabling. My implement shed cost £150. I have a set of farming implements, seven working horses, four young foals, three cows, three calves, four pigs, some fowls and turkeys. I had £73 when I started. I was on the Agricultural Bank and went to the National Bank afterwards. I owe them about £850.

7506. To Mr. CLARKSON: I put in 250 acres this year. There was no fallow. I have not enough land to go in for fallow. The highest average yield I had was last year, 19 bushels over 250 acres. I expect 15 bushels this year. To pay the actual cost of putting in and taking off would take 10 bushels. I would expect more than 15 bushels in a normal year if the land was fallowed. Bulk handling would reduce our costs. It is the tariff that hurts us most. If the farmer requires £600 worth of machinery at Fremantle we have to pay 32½ per cent. duty and 25 per cent. for the man distributing. That would total about £1,000. If the duty was free and he got his 25 per cent. it would come to £750, and that would go a long way to build a decent house for wives and families.

7507. To Mr. PAYNTER: I had septoria last year at the start. I run my wheat through the winnower and pickle it. No man should hold less than 1,000 acres here and should be able to crop with a little help at harvest time 250 acres with five horses in a three-furrow plough. I do not believe in big teams, but I do believe in co-operation for the purchase of supplies and the marketing of produce. I have been trying to get the farmers in it. Then there are railway freights. Amongst us we got up 12 bales. The freight came to £4 12s. 8d. At the same time there was one bale in the same truck that cost 16s. 10d. Our bales averaged each 9s. That is a small instance of the value of co-operation. Our land laws are very liberal, but as long as a man is improving his land he should have the first five years exempt. So far as the tariff is concerned, if we manufactured here and did not require to import anything vessels would come here empty to take away the grain and the freight would be proportionately increased. As for the railway rates, the further one lives away from the city the more one pays for freight. One the railway it costs £7 5s. 5d. freight on a reaper thresher from Fremantle, £6 9s. 5d. to land a harvester, £4 17s. 6d. to land a motor car. A 2,000 gallon tank costs £6 14s. 9d., four head of cattle cost £2 13s. 11d., one horse costs £2 2s. 6d., and yet each of these items only occupies a truck. The man who gets his goods in small lots is hit up every time, and the difference is far too big. To show the increase in the railway freights I may point out that B class jumped from 28s. 10d. to 31s. 7d.; C class from 43s. 3d. to 47s. 4d.; first class from 61s. 2d. to 79s. 8d. Groceries come in under this heading. Second class jumped from 80s. 4d. to 104s. 8d., and third class jumped from 99s. 5d. to 129s. Parcels have also gone up slightly. " Parcels to pay," if they cost 2s. 6d., it amounts to 3s. 9d. here. It is awkward because you do not always know what the cost is. The loading charges: they charge us 3s. for counting 18 bags. The minimum on chaff is £3 10s. on a small truck. I can only get about 30 bags to the ton. A few years ago the rates were cheaper. I had only 10s. a day when I left the Railway Department and I had no worry while I was on wages. Now I keep going but my life is one long worry. The working man is getting far too high wages and it all reacts on the farmer. If I was in the Railway Department, unless I was forced to become a member of the union I would not do so, and it is not fair that we should be charged one-half as much more in Geraldton for handling as we are in Fremantle. Everyone's money went into the scheme at Fremantle. I believe that co-operation is the solution of the whole trouble. The already heavy cost of living in the bush is steadily mounting up. Free trade and co-operation are the main factors in prosperity.

(The witness retired.)

CHARLES HENRY GOOCH, Farmer, Three Springs, sworn and examined:

7508. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been seven years here. I had very little experience previously in Sale. I hold 3,600 acres of Midland land. The average price is 10s. 10d. Eleven hundred acres are first class land; the balance is sandplain seven miles from the railway. I have 450 acres cleared and 100 acres rung and scrubbed. It is all fenced and divided into six paddocks. The water supply is a dam of 1,000 yards. We excavated it ourselves. The price at the time was 1s. a yard, but it is not a permanent supply. When it runs out we do the best we can from our neighbours. It is 10ft. deep and good holding country. The house is a humpy. There are no stables. I have an implement shed. I put £4,000