class land. The price of her land is 14s. 6. and mine 11s. The property adjoins the siding. I have plenty of rain water in tanks, but no other water. I am a married man with four children, all of whom are grown up. At the present time I live in a camp. I have a six - stall stable, a hay shed, 32ft. x 20 ft., a machinery shed, 36ft. square. I have a set of implements, five working horses, two foals and a pony, a few pigs and poultry. When I came here I had £800 capital. 250 acres are cleared. The property is all fenced and subdivided. I borrowed £325 from the Agricultural Bank and have no other liabilities. I have 250 acres in crop and of this 30 tons are hay and I have 400 bags of wheat. My average, therefore, is about two bags, which is the worst in the district. My neighbour had 14 bushels, but he has better land.

8081. By. Mr. PAYNTER : Did you have any fallow ? - Half of my crop was fallow, but what I scratched in was quite as good. I got my seed from the state farm and it consisted of federation, Firbank, and Comeback has turned out to be no good and I have turned it down. I sow a bushel to the acre and 60lbs. of super. I have a cultivator disc State plough, and use five horses with it. Bulk handling ought to reduce costs and it would be a blessing to get rid of bags. A man in this district ought to have at least 1,000 acres in order to make a decent living and should be able to handle 200 acres, that is if he has 600 acres cleared, When he could have 200 in fallow and 200 in grass, and the rest in crop. We have both poison and rabbits. Personally, I would not have my land as a gift. I trusted a man to pick it for me. The lowest tender that I received for clearing since I have been here was 26s. Nevertheless I consider that the Government has done admirably for the people on the land. I ordered everything from the state Implement Works, but I found that to be a mistake. I found that their implements were no good. They sent me an engine that had already been found to be useless at the State Implement Works. I have secured a Tangye for £105 in Sydney and it works splendidly. I got one of the first drills from the state Implements Works, but it has all gone to pieces. They guaranteed that I could have my money back if there was anything unsatisfactory about it. I absolutely refused to pay for the State harvester. I understand, however, that they are now making a good drill there and also a good plough and perhaps I was unfortunate in getting the first of their output. More unfortunately still I have paid for most of the implements that I got from the State works.

(The witness retied)

ARTHUR JOHN WALTON, Farmer, Wongerlin, sworn and examined :

8082. By the CHAIRMAN : How long have you been in this district?- I have been here 25 years, but I have mostly gone in for sheep. I hold 4,000 acres; only 700 acres are first class and the balance is grazing land priced at 6s. 9d. I have box and also a kind of heart - leaf poison on my land that has a point on each side at the end. I have lost stock through the heart - leaf. My first class land cost 10s. an acre. The whole property is fenced with six wires. There are 500 acres cleared and my water supply, which consists of a well is good. I am a married man without any children. I have a jarrah house, stables, and a machinery shed. The land is situated 7 ½ miles from the railway. I have a set of implements and six working horses, 17 pigs, three ponies, no sheep. I had practically no capital when I started but only about 1,400 sheep. I borrowed £575 from the Agricultural Bank for clearing, but I have no other debts. I had to get rid of my sheep on account of the dogs. I had 320 acres of crop which went four bags.

8083. By Mr. PAYNTER : How much of your land was fallow ? - Fifty acres. I plough five inches deep and I use Federation, sowing 61lbs. to the acre and 50lbs. of super. My highest average yield was 4½ bags. It cost 35s. an acre to put in and take off a crop. I use a 4 - furrow plough with six horses and do five acres a day. I have a 17 cultivator which does 15 acres, a 13 - drill which does 12 acres, a binder which does eight acres, and a 5ft. Sunshine harvester which does seven acres. I do not consider that larger teams and plant would reduce the working costs, but there is no doubt that the tariff is hard on the farmer, all of whose goods should be admitted free. Bulk handling would be good thing, but one would have to have a certain number of bags in order to bring the crop to the station. I had rust last year for the first time. I pickle and put the seed through a winnower. Fruit trees grow fairly well but the birds destroy everything. I consider that 1,000 acres per man is this district would be an ample holding, and he ought to be able to handle 350 acres per annum himself. I do not object to the price of my land and if I could only keep sheep I should be satisfied as I have plenty of water.

8084. By Mr. VENN : Are the rabbits plentiful with you ? - The dogs have increased and the rabbits are even worse.

8085. If you applied to the Rabbit Department for poison you would be supplied with it and also with wire netting for fencing in your water ? - I had 600 sheep six years ago but you could not be continually yarding your sheep and doing other work besides if you are single handed.

                                          ( The witness retired )

                                                --------------------

HOWARD HORSMAN, Farmer, Corrigin, sworn and examined :

8086. By the CHAIRMAN : How long have you been in this district ? - Eight years. I was previously farming in the mallee country in Victoria. I have 2,000 acres of first class land at 10s. an acre situated half a mile from the railway. 800 acres have been cleared and 1,000 acres fenced with six wires. The balance of the fencing has two and three wires. My water supply consists of soaks which have not been without water. I am a married man with four children, two of whom are working and two attending school. I have a four roomed house, sheds for horses, an implement shed, a full set of implements,