are not so many breakages, while six horses are as many as one man can look after. The duty on cornsacks is quite unnecessary as they are not produced in Australia. Duplicate parts are also an imposition on the farmer as he has to pay 30 per cent. duty on them, and duplicates ought to be easily manufactured here. I am in favour of bulk handling. It would be easy to obtain a four bushel bag with a cord run round the neck and employ that for carting to the station, where it could be tipped into the elevator and returned ready for fresh use. I have never suffered from disease in my crops, but I pickle and grade my wheat. I have not attempted any fodder crops or artificial grasses. The wages here are 35s. a week and keep, or alternatively, 8s. or 9s. a day. The class of labour is satisfactory. Every man in the district should have from 1,200 to 1,500 acres together with some sand plain adjoining for running stock, in order to make a decent living. so long as there is plenty of water sheep will do well on the sand plain here. The farmer should have 300 acres cleared to make a good start, but that area does not warrant him purchasing plant as he only should have 100 acres of crop. The present cost of clearing ranges from 21s. to 27s. 6d. an acre. The rainfall is quite satisfactory.

8150. By Mr VENN : Are rabbits troublesome?- Not as yet.

8151. Do you consider this fair sheep country?-- I would call it good sheep country if there was sufficient water available in summer. There are a few patches of poison but they could be got rid of. They can be cut out and burnt and heavily stocked for years afterwards. Sheep do not get enough of it to do them any harm. The best forest land here when cleared has carried a sheep to 1½ acres all the year round, and with it there were 100 acres of sand plain tacked on. No man can understand the uses of sand plain in this locality until he has had actual experience of it. My own experience is that it would keep stock alive if water is plentiful. I understand that the Agricultural Bank are endeavouring to foster the sheep industry on small holdings. My opinion is that the man goes in for crossbred sheep cannot attend to wheat. He has to make so many yards and has to be continually handling them. Then, again, there is not a trucking yard in the whole area. We have absolutely no telephone facilities and at the railway, if the official is disobliging, we are unable to get into communication. We offered at "Lomas" To pay 1s. a call for the use of the telephone but the authorities would not listen to us. Any one of us would be prepared to look after a telephone here and place it in a private house if necessary and pay all expenses. Kunjinn is the nearest trucking yard. All receiving agents of wheat at the sidings should be instructed to weigh all wheat and this should be passed over a weighbridge and disposed of in a very few minutes, while the present primitive method should be abolished.

8152. By the CHAIRMAN : How many sheep do you run?- At the present time I am carrying 1,400 sheep and 40 horses. My average weight of wool has been 7½lbs. In 1915 I shore 1,200 sheep, including 222 lambs, and in 1916 I shore 1,100. (The witness retired.)

GERALD JORDAN, Farmer, Dry Well, Quairading, sworn and examined :

8153. By the CHAIRMAN : How long have you been in the district?- Since 1913. I was brought up in the dairying farming district in Victoria and in this State I was mining on the goldfields. I hold 1,000 acres of which 700 are first class, the rest second class white gum country. I paid 17s. an acre for it. I do not think this price will be reduced by the department because I am within 10 miles of a railway---Jubuck siding. I have no fencing done, but I have 280 acres cleared. I have no water supply and have to cart 4½ miles. I am a married man with five children but there is no school for them to attend. I have a hessian humpy of three rooms and a 24ft. x 24ft. shed for horses and machinery. I have a plough, drill, harvester and four horses. I had just enough money to land me here and borrowed from the Agricultural Bank £400, while to the Industries Assistance Board and other creditors I think I owe £200. I have 170 acres is crop which will go four bags to the acre and in addition to that I have 25 tons of hay.

8154. By Mr PAYNTER : How much of your land was fallowed?---None of it but 150 acres had been fallowed in 1914. I was able to get my seed wheat through letting my land to a neighbour and so my costs this year would amount to only about £30 in all, including manure. This has been my first season. My heaviest liability is 2½ years accumulated rent and I badly want relief from rent. If five years exemption were granted it would make all the difference to me. I have a boy of 13 years of age and he has had no schooling whatever. My idea was to get 300 acres cleared, have 100 acres in fallow and 100 in crop in the second year. Eventually I hope to have 600 acres cleared and then I shall have 300 acres of crop. without machinery, to be on the land is no good to any man. This year I ploughed and drilled my land but that was no good. A man should not go in for machinery unless he has at least 200 acres cleared but here, as soon as a man gets 40 acres cleared, he goes in for a harvester, binder and plough.

8155. To Mr VENN : Rabbits have been increasing considerably and my vines and fruit trees have been absolutely ruined by them. In addition I have lost an average of two bushels from my crop through their being on the Government reserve.

8156. To Mr PAYNTER : Clearing costs from 10s. to 25s. an acre.

8157. By Mr VENN. Are dingoes prevalent?---Yes very much so. We cannot keep turkeys on account of them, and the fowls have to be locked up at night. Moreover, there is box poison here, which is a drawback to the keeping of sheep. I was farming in the Wickepin district for five years and I had a child killed there, and the consequences was that I had to take my family away. However, my holding here is better land than anything at Wickepin, although the rainfall is slighter.

8158. By the CHAIRMAN : What are your prospects?--- The prospects are very good with ordinary facilities such as railways. The rainfall average while I have been here would be about 10 inches during the growing season until stripping time. I consider the Industries Assistance Board is a splendid proposition but there are many of us who want to know whether, if we go in for fallow, the board will carry us on. Personally, if I had 300 acres of crop and 300 of fallow, I could go ahead. (The witness retired.)

The Commission adjourned.