TUESDAY, 30th JANUARY, 1917. (At Quairading.)

Present: J. O. Giles, Esq. (Chairman). H. H. Paynter, Esq. F. E. Venn, Esq.

ERNEST AUGUSTUS SMALES, Farmer, Quairading, sworn and examined:

7825. To the CHAIRMAN: I settled in this district in 1906, but had no experience of farming except in connection with fruit growing at Maryborough in Victoria. I hold 654 acres here; it is first class land situated seven miles from the railway. I paid 10s. an acre for it; it is all ring fenced with six wires and subdivided into four paddocks. Three hundred and thirty acres are cleared and the balance is ring-barked. I have an ample water supply from a well and soaks and a 500-yard dam 7ft. deep. There is water in it now, but it is not covered. I can go deeper with it; in fact, you can go any depth in that locality. My well is 35 ft. deep and is on the border of scrub land in salmon gimlet country, but it is only stock water. My soak has never been known to go dry, and it is drawn upon freely.

7826. Has any settler in the district put down a dam as deep as 12ft.?—Yes, I think Mr S. C. Dall has. I am a married man with two small children. I have a four-roomed weather-board house, bush stabling, and machinery shed, and I have everything except a binder in the way of plant. I have six working horses, four milking cows, a heifer, and three claves.

7827. What did your property cost to develop?—I am mortgaged to the National Bank for £1,400, and they are increasing the mortgage in order to keep me going. I think they value the land at £1,800.

7828. By Mr PAYNTER: What area do you crop annually?—I have been cropping all my cleared land every year. I plough about three inches and cultivate just before seeding. I use a five or six-horse team. My plough is a four-furrow and I often take one furrow off. I have a 22-disc cultivator.

7829. Do you consider that with larger implements and teams you could obtain better results?—My holding is not large enough for bigger implements. I use 60lbs. of super. and a bushel and a-half of seed to the acre.

7830. Do you attempt to select your seed from you previous crops?—I have not done so in the past. The highest yield I had was the year that we suffered from hail storms, and the average all through would be about seven or eight bushels. That is what it will go this year. The cost of putting in and taking off a crop will take some time to work out. A 10-bushel crop would satisfy my overdraft. I believe in fallow. I am not on the Industries Assistance Board. I consider that the tariff hinders the farming industry as it raises the cost of everything we use. I favour the idea of bulk handling. There has been no disease in my crops. I pickle but do not grade my wheat. Poultry bring me in £20 to £30 a year on average. I never employ any labour except that of a boy. I work from daylight to dark, say, 10 or 12 hours every day. A man should be able to crop annually 300 acres on fallow. I am a believer in co-operation wherever it is feasible, and I have thought that the Government might subsidise the co-operative companies under their control. So far as the present land laws are concerned I got my property cheap, but not too cheap, nevertheless some of my neighbours in Jennaberrin agricultural area paid too much for their land.

7831. BY Mr VENN: What stock do you run?—Not any, but some years ago I ran sheep and got fair returns for them, but since the drought I had to get rid of my sheep for financial reasons and have not been able to get any since.

7832. If the Government provided breeding ewes to approved settlers would you avail yourself of the opportunity?—No, it would be no good to me, because I am under the National Bank, but if it were possible to obtain them with their consent I would be only too glad to have them. I am going to see my bank manager and endeavour to get them. It is no use going on growing crops at a loss. On the other side a man with fallow would do all right on 12 bushels. I am quite satisfied that one cannot grow wheat successfully without sheep. I am not troubled with dogs, but the rabbits are a nuisance and have cleaned out a few acres of my crops. There are several other farmers like myself who are not under the Industries Assistance Board, where there is the right to turn us out at a day's notice. Of course, we know they will not turn us off, but while we are in that uncertain position it does not give one heart to go on improving one's property, and if the Government could do anything to make our tenure more secure it would be a great benefit to us.

7833. BY the CHAIRMAN: Have you found the private banks liberal?—No, not as much so as the Industries Assistance Board in regard to stores. I have the feeling that they are only waiting the opportunity to put another man in my place. In 1914 we had a drought and I lost everything and did not get my seed or horse-feed back. The hail storms in the previous year was the starting of the trouble. My