Part 7

Page 441
image 6 of 100

This transcription is complete

and it would be a good thing if we could get a little off our machinery. We have to pay high wages now and they will be higher later on. The Government in this State should influence the Federal Government to reduce the rates on machinery. The Sunshine harvester is dearer here than in Argentine, yet we have to compete in London with Argentine products, and it cost more to put in our crops here. The Sunshine harvester should not be allowed to sell their machinery in the Argentine.

(the witness retired.)


JOHN LETHLEAN, Farmer, Bruce Rock, sworn and examined :

7973-4. By the CHAIRMAN : How many years have you been in the district ?- For seven years. I have been farming all my life in Victoria except for eight or nine years. I hold 964 acres, priced at 15s. 6d. now reduced to 11s. 492 acres are first class and the balance second and third class. In the third class there are patches of wodjil and a little mallee. Second class land is malee and jam scrub. It is situated 2¾ miles from the railway. I have a 76 acre paddock which is not cleared. ; 470 acres are cleared. I am a married man with no family. I have a weather board and iron house, no stable, but a machinery shed, a set of implements, five working horses, a few fowls and pigs. I have a dam 1,100 cubic yards capacity 8ft . deep. It has never been dry yet. There is about 5ft. of water in it at the present time and it is not covered. It has a rocky bottom and I could make it deeper by blasting. I had 500 acres under crop this year. I had borrowed £650 from the Agricultural Bank, £60 on my life insurance company. I squared up to the Industries Assistance board last year. I owe rent £30 and Agricultural Bank interest £30. I have 420 acres under crop this year and last year I had 360 acres.

7975. By Mr. PAYNTER : How much of that is fallow ?- One hundred and twenty acres. I believe in fallow, but this year it has not paid me. As a rule, I sow 40 to 45 lbs. of seed and 50 lbs. of super to the acre on forest land up to one cwt. on the rest. Gluyas is the most suitable seed I have sown. I have other sorts of seed besides in different patches. Last year I averaged 19 bushels and off 320 acres stripped this year I took 16 bushels. To put in and take off a crop cost nine bushels. I use a four-furrow mould-board plough. I take one furrow off and use only four horses for three furrows averaging three acres a day. I have a 7ft. 6in. cultivator which does between 16 and 17 acres , a 15-disc drill which does 16 acres a day. With the binder I cut 50 acres and I can do 10 acres in good weather with four horses. Larger implements and teams would reduce the cost up to a certain point. Some implements could be enlarged provided you have sufficient land cleared. My light country was very shallow. The forest land is very deep indeed. The tariff presses hardly on the farmers though it is not much good for the State. I have never had disease in my crop. As soon as it rains I pickle all the grain but do not grade it ; I winnow it. I have just started with pigs and poultry. They pay, but considering what they waste and the nuisance they are a man would be better of without them. I employ a little labour at 30s. a week and keep for picking up. No man should hold less than 1,000 acres in his district and the maximum he can crop with a little help at harvest time under the best methods would be about 400 acres. I do not think we feel the price of the land now. The little that we pay for freight does not matter much, but unfortunately it should not be collected from us until we get our feet. In 1914 I got 70 bags from 220 acres, 1913 I averaged 16 bushels, 1912 12 bushels; this year 16 bushels.

7976. By Mr. VENN : Are rabbits any nuisance this year ?- They are very troublesome. The kangaroos do even more mischief. I lost 100 bags last year through rabbits and kangaroos. It would not pay to have sheep until one has fenced. The fencing is difficult on account of the present circumstances. Still I am quite satisfied with the district, and money is to be made by anyone who pays attention to it.

7977. By Mr PAYNTER : Would you go farming again if you had your chance ?- I am not doing quite as well as I was on the goldfields, but I have had a much better life here. I consider a settler has many hardships to face, and I should hesitate about recommending the life to others.

(The witness retired.)

WALTER BUTCHER. Farmer, Bruce Rock, Sworn and examined :

7978. By the CHAIRMAN : How long have you been in the district?- Seven years, but I have been farming all my life in this country. I hold 4,800 acres and payed 15s. for 3,000, 15s. 6d. for 1,000, and 17s. 6d. for another thousand. The last two blocks have been reduced 11s. and 13s. respectively. 4,200 acres are first class and the balance second class, except 50 acres of wodjil which is quite useless. A railway adjoins the property. My water supply consist of four dams, one 1,400, one 1,000, depth from 10 to 12 feet, and we can go down 20 feet if necessary, but it might not be safe on account of salt. Clay exists below the depth of 20ft. None of them are covered. We have not seen the bottom of any of them yet. The one nearest the house is heavily draw upon and is just about dry, but it carries sheep, pigs, working horses and other live stock. We are carting water for home use a distance of three-quarters of a mile from another dam. They actually cost about 6d. a yard to construct at a time when the price was 1s. 6d., but we were contractors ourselves. 1,200 acres are fenced, 2,300 cleared. I am a married man with four children, two of them attend school. We have a skeleton jarrah house covered with canvas and containing five rooms; stables for horses, machinery shed and plant. I have a full farming plant, 14 working horses, 400 sheep, 100 pigs, and a few head of cattle. I had a capital of £200 cash when I started, about £100 in horses and implements, or a total of £300.

7979. What financial institutions assist you ?- The Agricultural Bank in the first instance, and subsequently the W.A. Bank. I owe £3,200 to the former and £1,150 to the latter. My outside liabilities total more than £1,500 but they are covered