by this year's crop. I have 3,000 bags of wheat from 1,000 acres, an average of about 10 bushels to the acre.

7980. By Mr. PAYNTER: How many acres do you usually crop?—One thousand acres annually, but we have no fallow. I believe in fallow and think it is the only thing. We plough about four inches for early fallowing. On heavy forest country, well worked land, we use 40lbs. of graded seed to the acre when put in, in dry ground. This we would increase to 50lbs. if put in after the rains. On second class land I sow nothing less than a bushel. Second class land is useless unless it is well sweetened. On forest land I use 50 to 80lbs. of super and on sand plain lewt. The highest average yield was last year, 18 bushels. Last year we had 300 acres of fallow out of the 1,000, and it did not yield as high as the land that was scratched in. To pay expenses of putting in and taking off a crop it would cost about 14s. an acre, and under the fallowing method 25s. to 28s. That would be fallow, root picking, two cultivations, and putting in thorough order. I use a four-farrow plough, six horses, and do five acres a day. I have a 11½ft. cultivator which, with six horses, does 25 acres; an 18 and 20-disc drill which do 25 acres. We have not used harrows lately at all. With the binder we cut about 10 acres, and with the 8ft. harvester 12 acres. Gluyas is the best wheat for this district for the heavy land and Federation the best on sandplain. In regard to the tariff, we pay exorbitant prices for bags and machinery parts. Bulk handling must come, but I do not know how it will operate at sidings where there are only about 3,000 bags of wheat delivered. Thirty acres of Bunyip last year suffered from septoria. We have tried rape with satisfactory results, and vegetables and fruit trees do well. Pigs are not profitable under the present conditions. You must be well fenced in, and have ample water, as well as pig-proof paddocks to make it a success. To the end of last year Mrs. Butcher had sold £300 worth of poultry and has netted an average of £50 a year all through. My permanent wages man at harvest earns £3 a week and his keep, but he works on Sundays. The usual wages are 45s. a week and keep for the rest of the year until seeding time. Personally I have had no trouble with labour at all. To make a decent living a man must have at least 1,000 acres. An ambitious man should have up to 3,000 acres. Working by myself, with a little help at harvest time, and a six-horse team, I can take off 300 acres. That is with a man to help for three months at harvest time. Co-operation is undoubtedly a good idea. For instance, across the road in the station yard you can see a dozen men doing work that one could perform, and the same waste is going on at every siding. All that has to be paid by the farmer. Of course wheat buying firms and agents in the future will be a thing of the past. Labourers are making £10 a week out of what I grow. All the wheat should have been trucked by the farmers themselves. One man should be there to receive and sample the wheat. Provision should be made at the port to stack the wheat until shipment. There is an enormous amount of waste going on throughout the country. A board should be appointed with representatives of the farmers, the Government and the Chamber of Commerce, to receive the wheat at Fremantle and stack it until shipped, and when shipped the accounts should be made up and the farmers paid. When the wheat is delivered the farmer should be advanced, say, 2s. 6d. Five hundred men who are earning £10 a week could be cut out - lumpers, agents, and other who pest the farmers - and they only do two honest days' work in a week.

7981. At Baandee the farmers appointed one of their own men to look after matters and the same has been done at Kellerberrin and at Bungulla. They formed a company of their own and the other agents have not a look in?— One man and a clerk could receive the whole of the wheat and sample it.

7982-6. The CHAIRMAN: I do not know that there is any objection to anybody doing it. Why should they not handle it?

7987. By Mr. PAYNTER: Do you consider the land regulations conducive to settlement?—The scheme for the settlement of the land is good, but the administration has been defective. Land close to the railway should be legislated for differently from land at a distance, and the railways should be first of all finally settled by Parliament as to their route. Land 20 miles away is to-day priced at £1, while land alongside the railway was only 10s. The Government should provide for the route of the railway and have the townsites marked out. I am paying less than people 15 miles away.

7988. By the CHAIRMAN: You settled when there was no railway and it has been diverted to suit party politics. Supposing you were left out in the cold?-- In any case I should not be charged what I am being now charged.

7989. You would favour shutting up the land until the railways are settled?-- Yes.

7990. That would limit settlement?-- I do not think so.

7991. By Mr. PAYNTER: You must have some inducements to lay a railway, namely, the prospect of people taking it up?-- Railways should be surveyed. I do not say that they should be built.

7992. What would be the position if the settlement was not sufficient for a railway?—If there was a railway surveyed and townsites marked out, that would constitute sufficient inducement in itself.

7993. By the CHAIRMAN: You mean any future railways should be surveyed before new areas are thrown open, and the railway constructed when half has been definitely selected?-- I agree to the first portion of your remarks, but the railway should be built as soon as there is sufficient inducement, and it should be surveyed simultaneously with the blocks of land. A man who wants land must give some qualification before going on it.

7994. By Mr. VENN: There should be discrimination at the time of selection. For instance, there have been many tailors and clerks and tradesmen who have been a success on the land. Still, any settlers who after five years demonstrate that they are no good as farmers should be culled out?—The Industries Assistance Board is here, and if a man does not carry on his operations properly he should be culled out. As a matter of fact, the Industries Assistance Board is the salvation of the wheat industry, and it is certain to my mind that those who are farmers will make a do of it.

7995. By the CHAIRMAN: Mr. Deane Hammond has suggested that stock should be provided to settlers through stock agents, who would not give