in the district could be availed of for assistance in regard to choosing sites, and they could lend small boring plants to test the sites for tanks. Then they could show them that they should not fence on the top of the banks because cattle are apt to push the fencing over. Fencing should be placed on the outside of the banks as stock are unable to see the water and will not struggle to get to it.

7630. By Mr. CLARKSON: You would support that suggestion, provided it was carried out under efficient supervision?—Yes. The present extension of the system could be done away with. That would limit the tanks to a certain number of years. The life of the system is said to be 20 years.

7631. By the CHAIRMAN: But there are a dozen leaks a day on the Goomalling pipe line?—If you are running a main you may meet a patch which makes its life short.

7632. Both Mr. Castilla and Mr. Neughar think it would be better if the settlers were encouraged to obtain their own dams. The estimate for a 2,000 yard dam at 1s. 6d. a yard is £150, and a 12ft. dam should provide a permanent water supply, in their opinion?—That is so.

7633. By Mr. VENN: Many of the settlers have complained that their land was unsuitable for dams or tanks?—The nearest field officer might be able to show the settler the proper place to put it.

7634. By Mr. CLARKSON: It would be a tremendous thing for the industry, because after a few years this present tax would disappear?—Yes, and the replacing of the main will be a great trouble; its usefulness will gradually decrease.

7635. Speaking of covering for tanks, what had you in mind to cover them with?—With gimlet posts and bearers, and we have also a standard plan of a cover, rafters on bearers, then purlings, then about a foot of broome. Sometimes we have to cart that eight or ten miles. Where the broome and timber are handy, the work can be done for one-half the price mentioned, £60. Sixty pound would put in 1,000 yards of excavation, but it is rather a dirty way of covering and settlers often put it on too low, but where broome and gimlet are adjacent it would be just as well to cover the tank. Speaking generally, however, covering does not pay. It is like providing windmills with wells.

7636. It would be better to have that for the individual settler?—Yes, provided he did it to standard. We could provide a drawing for him.

7637. By the CHAIRMAN: But you are of opinion that, generally, it does not pay to do it?—No. I was in charge of the construction of steel work on the Coolgardie scheme at one time. Our department has a list of standard drawings which were used, and I will read the list over to you. It is under the heading of "Regulations in regard to boring plants," in the annual report. We have a plan of a 1,000-yard dam which would be put in for £45. The Railway Department have an undertaking with the settlers to supply water from their tanks at 6d. per hundred gallons, provided their supply does not fall below 7 feet. In any case, the first cost of £45 is small and it will last a long time. At the railway tanks the settler simply opens a valve and gets his supply. At the sidings where they have made a good case for themselves, we put in from one to two 5,000 gallon tanks. The water is sent in trucks and gravitated into the tanks from which the settler pumps his supply.

7638. By Mr. CLARKSON: Would it be costly to send an officer along the extensions to visit every holding served from the extensions?—They might send one man like Mr. Castilla through the whole of the districts, would could do it in three weeks. There would be no need to go to each holding. There need only be a general inspection, and he could be in a position to say whether there was any exception to the general rule along that line. He could compare the country there with the rest of the country. He would want to see the contour of the country and the timber and the general aspect, and he would form an opinion which he would be responsible for. Along the railway line the settlers have rushed the scheme, but that is not the case north and south of the line.

7639. By the CHAIRMAN: We found outside the districts served by the Coolgardie main that the settlers have been able to supply themselves with water, but 800 yards is a big dam with them. The settlers along the goldfields line seem to have rushed the thing?—It would only be an hour's work and a conversation with a departmental officer who could pick out two or three sites and indicate whether a tank could be filled or not. He could state definitely where the holding ground was and could supply a plant to try the ground.

7640. If organised in a national way, the Government had a big plant and the settler found the horse-feed and the extra labour required, would that meet the case?—I would not touch that at all; it would be too dangerous. The difficulty is this: Some districts would want 10 horses, which are worth £400, and a wagon worth £100, ploughs and scops, but the difficulty is to obtain suitable labour and transport charges which are far too high.

7641. At Yuna the settlers told us that if they could arrange with the Agricultural Department to put down eight or 10 tanks they could get it done for 1s. a yard, whereas one single tank would cost 1s. 6d. It seemed a good proposition if the State financed a big plant which could go from one district to another with a good teamster in charge, the farmer to provide his own extra labour and horse heed so that the only charge would be continuous employment for the plant?—It is a good proposition, but this difficulty may occur. Say there were 10 tanks to go down and each occupied three weeks. If bad country happened to be struck he might be hung up for four or five weeks, and the settlers would complain and say that they were missing a winter's rains. To construct 10 tanks would take seven months, Of course in the Northampton district they get thunderstorms in summer.

7642. If the plant could be kept going the whole time it could be done cheaper doing the work from farm to farm and putting down all the tanks necessary in one centre after the other?—I suggest that you should communicate with Mr. Rowley and ask his views on the matter and to report on his return. The settler should be advised where to put the tank and where to put the banks.

7643. The Water Supply Department should choose the site and provide a small boring plant to test the tank site for suitable catchment?—Yes, that is it.