Present : J. O. Giles, Esq. (Chairman). H. H. Paynter, Esq., | F. E. Venn, Esq. RICHARD THOMAS HORBURY, Farmer, Corrigin, sworn and examined :

8103. By the CHAIRMAN : How long have you been in this district ?- I came here in 1911. I was brought up on a farm in Victoria, and have been in this state eight years. I took up 1,222 acres. Of this 800 acres is first class land, although it was all classified by the Government as first class. The balance is only fit for grazing. The price charged was 21s. an acre and has not yet been reduced, and I have not been able to get a response from the Department in answer to my request for a reduction. The late Surveyor General, when he was here, said that the classification was rotten, and that he would have it rectified, and would order a reclassification of "sheets 3 and 4, Kurrenkutten." The property is 10 miles east from the railway ; 700 acres are fenced, 400 acres cleared. The water supply is a dam 8ft. deep, 1,000 yard capacity. I could go deeper, but it is in it-tree country, and one is likely to strike salt water. I put down a bore hole 20ft. and the water tasted of fish. It cost 1s. 6d. a yard. I am a married man, with four children, and we have no school within 10 miles of us. We are two short of the number necessary to entitle us to a school. The nearest doctor is at Beverley. I have a long cabin to live in, which is a little hell. I have bush stables and shed for machinery, a set of implements, five working horses, a calf and two pigs. when I came here I had £225 capital, and was advanced by the Agricultural Bank £850. I think I owe about £350 to the Industries Assistance Board and other creditors, But I have had no accounts. The agricultural department has been no assistance to any settler here in connection with information as to how to work the land, how to fence, how to dam sink, or other farming essentials. Mr. Sutton, I believe, delivered one technical lecture on wheat and has since changed his mind on that. He stared that when seed is sown early and dry it is not necessary to pickle, but on further test he said afterwards that it was necessary. I have tried both ways and have had a clean crop without pickling, and I have had smut when I pickled. I have 230 acres of crop which goes about 11 bushels.

8104. By Mr. PAYNTER : How much of your land is fallow ?- Forty acres. I am a thorough believer in fallow, and farming is no good without it, but at the time I had neither horses or a plough. I plough 3in. to 4in. deep. Lott's Federation are the best for this district. I sow a bushel to the acre and 60lbs. of super. I have sowed from 30, 45, and 60lbs. of super, and yet I was unable to see any difference in the crop. Still, as the ground is worked time after time, you would, I think, require to use 60lbs. It would take five bushels to pay one to put in and take off a crop, including wages, but that would not include depreciation and interest, nor could the farmer pay rents out of it. I have a six-furrow Shearer disc plough, in which I use five horses and do about 25 acres a week. I have a Duck-foot 5ft. 9in. cultivator, which does eight acres, and a 15ft-drill that does, that is if one has to cart everything oneself. I used a stripper and winnower. With the stripper I do eight acres a day. I consider the tariff is crippling the farmer. For any article he uses he has to pay a higher tariff, and more particularly it must be remembered that the tariff does not protect Australian industries, and there is no doubt that it is too excessive. For instance, bags are not manufactured in Australia, and they are daily becoming dearer. Surely that is an injustice. The system of revenue is a tax on one class of the people only. It is different in other industries, for the man makes boots, for example, passes the tariff on to his customers, but the farmer who buys bags cannot pass the price of them on. Bulk handling must and it would be an advantage to the farmer in bags alone. To get wheat to siding he could have tanks and wagons and build up the sides of wagons. Moreover, he could tip the grain from the harvester into a tank on the land. However, once a it was introduced, we would soon invent a system that would answer all our purposes. I usually pickle my wheat but I have tried sowing it without.

8105. You are aware that Mr. Sutton withdrew his statement that you referred to, publicly ?-Yes. I have not a grader and I put my seed through the winnower. The rabbits took all my vines and vegetables. I employ labour a portion of the year only and pay £2 a week and keep, but it is not satisfactory labour. The working hours average twelve daily. A man should hold 1,000 acres in this district to make a living, and he should have 250 acres cleared in order to get the stock loan from the bank. Then, after that, how is he going to do more clearing?- He wants really 250 acres of fallow and 250 acres cleared to fallow under the three years rotation system. He should crop from 250 to 300 acres. Co-operation amongst farmers for the purchase of supplies, and the marketing of their products, is a good thing, and we have formed a local company recently, but it is not yet registered. I