Part 6

Page 424
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This transcription is complete

losses in those two sessions were very considerable. I had 200 acres in and I lost half the crop through hail storms. It was a three-bag crop that year, and £600 of my overdraft was due solely to the two years I have mentioned.

              (The witness retired.)
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JOHN HENRY JULIUS GEYER, Farmer, Doodaning, sworn and examined:

7834. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been settled in this district?—Twenty years, and I hold 2,500 acres; 1,000 acres of this is first class, 1,000 is second class, and the balance third. I am nine miles from the railway and paid from 5s. 9d. up to 10s. per acre for the land. With the exception of 700 acres it is all fenced and subdivided into 14 paddocks. I have 1,400 acres cleared. My water supply consists of wells and dams and is permanent. The wells are 60ft. deep and contain fair stock water. The dams are 10ft. and are 1,000 cubic yards each. I believe in having dams covered, but have not done so myself as yet. I am a married man with five children, two of whom are married. I have a mud-brick house, with a thatched roof, stabling and shed for accommodation, an iron barn with a straw roof for machinery. I have a full farming plant, 18 working horses, 600 sheep, 8 cattle, and 40 pigs.

7835. What has it cost you to improve your property?—I am prepared to let the Government take it over if they would allow me £3 a week for myself and family for the period of 20 years, which represents the time that I have been there. It has no value at the present time if I wanted to sell it; actually I suppose it is worth £2 an acre. I am financed by the Bank of Australasia and my dealings with them have been satisfactory. In fact, I do not know what I would have done without them. We certainly should not have been here otherwise.

7836. To Mr. PAYNTER: I crop annually 600 acres and use about 80lbs. of super and a bushel of seed to the acre. The highest yield in the district has been an average of 15 bushels since I have been here, but this year my average is only about 13. I have two five-furrow ploughs and use six horses in each and plough from three to five inches deep. I have a Massey-Harris cultivator. I believe in fallow. If you can work it with a cultivator once is enough, if not, two or three times. When fallowing we can do 15 acres a day, cultivating 20 acres a day. The drill is 7ft. 6in., 13-disc. I do about 20 acres a day with two drills and harrow, where necessary probably 30 acres. With the binder I cut from 12 to 16 acres. I have a reaper and thresher and a Robinson harvester. My son, my principal help, has gone to the war, and since he left I have done his as well as my own work. The tariff has a considerable bearing on the farming industry, and the cost of machinery is what is keeping the farmer down. I have been farming all my life and during the whole time have been on the verge of bankruptcy. That will give you an idea of what profit there is in farming. I believe in bulk handling if the railways would arrange the process at the siding. My crops have suffered from rust; that was last year. I pickle and grade my wheat. I have tried growing artificial crops but with no success. Some fruit trees do fairy well. Than pigs there is nothing more profitable on the farm, but I only keep sufficient for my own use and have a few to sell. We keep a quantity of poultry for our own use. I do not think that I have paid £200 in the last five years by way of wages. Personally, I average 14 hours' work a day, and during the present season more than that. If a man had two sons like myself he should hold no less than 2,500 acres of land, for land is of no use if you cannot work it, on the contrary it is a white elephant. Working by himself a man with a little help at harvest time should be able to do 400 acres. There is no doubt that farmers should co-operate for the purchase of supplies and the marketing of produce. The present land laws and the price of land are unreasonable, and the Government should give the land away for nothing. At present there is a lot of land that we are obliged to hold for the future that is no use to us, and for which we have to pay an excessive price. I pay £28 a year. Under the present circumstances it would not be an advantage to have five years' exemption from land rent. At the present time the genuine farmer is doing without assistance from the board, and if the Government had left the Industries Assistance Board alone the country would be in a better position to-day.

7837. By Mr. VENN: Do you run sheep?—I have been running sheep for 14 years and you cannot farm without them. They pay the losses of wheat growing. I cannot carry more than 600 on my land on account of poison, of which there is a great deal, namely, Box, York Road, and Berry. So far we have not seen any rabbits, but a few years ago there were a few dingoes in the district.

7838. By the CHAIRMAN: What is your overdraft?—£2,200.

7839. Do you have a No. 2 account?—No, only the one. It is necessary for us to have machinery in order to farm but the freights are excessive; they and the cost of machinery are keeping the farmer down. A man has three years' terms to pay for his machinery, but before the end of that time he requires a new one, and machinery seems to be so made as to last only until the last instalment is paid. The price we pay for it keeps us down. I have had a long experience in machinery, but it costs a great deal of money to keep it in order for three years, but I consider the Government should reduce the land rents, particularly to pioneers like myself in this district.

7840. By Mr. PAYNTER: You do not think it would be advisable to have exemption from rent for, say, five years?—It would be no benefit at present, but it would be of benefit for a new beginner.

7841. To the CHAIRMAN: 800 acres of my cleared land is first class.

7842. By Mr. PAYNTER: What do you think would be a fair price for your first class land?—In normal times £3.

7843. By the CHAIRMAN: Have you any information that you want to put before us?—You should do a lot of good for the farmer. Something of this sort has been wanted since farming has been in existence. How long are we likely to have to wait for any benefit from your people: will it be this generation or the next?

7844. The CHAIRMAN: The Government have sent us out with a free hand to collect information and we have decided to see the men in their districts at