the land would be forfeited on us. Such a rate is diabolical. It costs 22s. to 25s. to clear land, but of course there are no men to do clearing or any other work.

8044. By Mr. VENN: Are rabbits troublesome?-- They are increasing and becoming a nuisance. They got all my maize. There are also dingoes about, and without fencing we could not run sheep, on account of them. The rabbits are barking all the young suckers. There are so plentiful that my cat caught half a dozen last night.

8045-6. By the CHAIRMAN: With proper farming what should your average wheat yield be?-- I think I could average 15 bushels every year, as mine is one of the best blocks. Possibly the average of the district would be about 10 bushels. I like the work, but there is a lot of worry hanging over you when you have to work for so long. I do not even have time to read the war news. It does not seem to be worth while to work so hard in order to make a bare living; moreover, I consider the classification of my land is most unsatisfactory. (The witness retired.) _________________

FRANCIS JOSEPH ILES, Farmer, Scarborough Farm, Kuminin, sworn and examined:

8047. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been here?-- I came to the district five years ago and I was farming 26 acres of land in the Old Country previously. I came straight here from there. Together with my sons I hold 5,000 acres of which 3,500 is first class, 1,500 acres sandplain, and morrell. We are 23 miles from the railway. When the new line is constructed we will be within five miles of it. There are no vacant blocks in the district. The land was reduced from 23s. to 14s. 6d. I have 1,000 acres fenced and 1,800 acres cleared. We have three dams, all dry. Two of them are nine feet deep and 1,000 yards capacity. The other is nine and a-half feet deep and 1,450 yards capacity. We have not had any thunderstorms this year as yet. We propose to put down two more dams. I am a married man with 10 children and one of them attends school, which is seven miles distant. The rest are working. I have a six-roomed hessian and iron house, iron and bush stables and a machinery shed. There is a full set of implements, 13 working horses, four foals, an injured mare, a cow, 26 pigs, and fowls. When I cam here I had £2,000 capital. Since then I have had £600 from the Agricultural Bank. There were three of the blocks that had mortgages on them of about £600 each. That would amount roughly £2,400. The Industries Assistance Board owe me £390, according to their own statement. We have 1,000 acres in crop and will, roughly, produce about 2,000 bags. We have a piece of morrell country which was rung for two years before we felled it. We ploughed, harrowed, and cultivated it. We used 45lbs. of seed to the acre, principally Newman's Early, and 50lbs. of super. From 35 acres we got 50 bags returned. There is a belt of 900 chains by 16 chains on my land consisting of gimlet and mallee and morrell in the middle. We did not get a grain of wheat off the morrell. I asked Mr. Sutton for his advice on the matter, but he did not know what to advise me. Not knowing the quality of the land we cleared, we tackled the morrell country first. In the first year we had 60 acres of morrell cultivated with a Shearer plough and drilled, but we got nothing out of it.

8048. By Mr. PAYNTER: What sort of soil is it?-- Grey, and when the rain goes off, it becomes powdery and you only blunt your harrows with it. The mistake we made was in clearing the morrell land first. If the Government put a settler on 1,000 acres of morrell, and gave him stores, horses, plant, and everything, he would be bankrupt in two years.

8049-50. Morrell land is only good for grass in the dry country?--

8051. Witness: If the land is worthless, we should not have to pay 14s. 6d. an acre for it, but in the meantime all my capital is gone.

8052. By Mr. PAYNTER: Do you approve of fallow?-- Two years ago we had 500 acres of fallow. I put other people's crops in on shares in order to keep my own land fallowed. I got 140 bags from 500 acres. Of the 1,000 acres this season, we had 350 fallowed. We used 45lbs. of seed to the acre and 50lbs. of super. Gluyas is the most suitable variety for us, but Federation is good in normal seasons. I have tried a lot of wheats, Alpha, Lott's Gluyas, Cumberland, and a dozen others, but I find Gluyas is the best. I told Mr. Sutton that I had morrell country fallowed and intended to put in Florence. I have not tried it before. I have a four-furrow Shearer plough and I borrowed a State disc plough. I use six horses in the Shearer and do 4½ acres a day. We have seven cultivators, one four feet and the other about eight feet. We have a 13 and a 17 disc drill, averaging 11 and 13 acres respectively. I have harrows to experiment with. The binder cuts about 12 acres a day. We have a Massey-Harris reaper-thresher and a Union harvester. The former is expensive, but you can get the wheat better with it and with care the drake is thrown out. We can do 13 acres a day. A six-feet harvester does eight acres a day. We average 95 bags a day with the reaper-thresher. Larger plant and implements are all very well if you have sufficient land and can go on working continuously. The tariff hits us very hard indeed. I have to send to Perth for every part that is broken and I consider we should have free trade. bulk handling is no doubt an excellent thing, but the State is not yet sufficiently developed to warrant its use. Last year we had 80 or 90 acres of Cumberland, which was diseased and had no heads. I have tried dozens of fruit trees and in winter grow vegetables, but we have a few vines growing as well. Pig raising could be made profitable, and if I could get wire I would fence in 50 acres and let the pigs out there. We work 12 to 15 hours a day. No man in this district can earn a living on less than 1,000 acres. A man single handed with a little help at harvest time ought to be able to do from 300 to 400 acres.There is a movement at the present time in the direction of co-operation at Bruce Rock. Land conditions are easy, in fact it is for this reason that I came to this country. Clearing is worth at least 25s. per acre.

8053. By Mr. VENN: Are the rabbits increasing here?-- Yes, and they will eat us out in another two years at the present rate of progress. Mr. W. N.