WEDNESDAY, 7th FEBRUARY,1917. (At Kurren Kutten.)

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Present: J.O. Giles, Esq. (Chairman). H.H. Paynter, Esq. F.E. Venn, Esq.

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ALEXANDER DUNN, of A. & A. Dunn, Kurren Kutten, Farmer, sworn and examined:

8159. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been in this district? —I came here in 1909 and I was previously in Victoria managing a station. I hold 2,000 acres here, 1,280 are first class, the balance grazing country which was subsequently reclassified. It now averages 11s. In the 1,280 acres are two homesteads. The property is eight miles from Nilberin Siding. I have 1,140 acres fenced, 750 cleared. My water supply consists of a Government well and 1,000 yard dam which is now dry. It is 6ft. 6in. deep intend to put down several more. I can go down 10ft., but at that depth one gets salt water. The price is 1s. 6d. a yard. I am a single man and have a house, stable, chaff house, but no machinery shed. I have a set of implements, four working horses, four light horses, four pigs. When I came here my capital was £300. I borrowed £960 from the Agricultural Bank and I think I owe the Industries Assistance Board £350, and the merchants about £600. I have 435 acres of crop averaging six bushels.

8160. By Mr PAYNTER: Do you believe in fallow? - Yes. I had 165 acres of fallow and it was the worst crop I had. I plough the ground six inches and I began to think that scratching a crop in is better. Where I had drilled over the fallow I got six bags. I put in 23 acres of Alpha for early hay and got nothing. Federation is the most satisfactory, and I use 45lbs. of seed to the acre and 50lbs. of super. Ten bushels is the highest average yield I have had. That was last year. I have a eight-disc Shearer plough which takes six horses and does eight acres a day, a 20-tyne spring-tooth which does 15 acres, a 15-drill which does 18 acres. They would not grant me a roller or harrows which would consolidate the ground. I have a 6ft. Sunshine harvester which does between eight and 10 acres. I do not think that a larger plant would be profitable in my case because the vibration is so great that it would be continually breaking down. The tariff is far too high and the price we have to pay for parts is simply murderous, and they have added 10 per cent. in addition since the war began. It is probably due because of iron going up every month. Bulk handling would be a big saving in jutes and one set of bags would be able to be used over and over again. I have had no disease in my crops. I pickle but do not grade my seed. I have tried to grow Lucerne but was unsuccessful. We can grow nothing here with out wire netting, on account of the rabbits. From November until now I have been doing my own work and have been unable to procure a man anywhere. No man should have less than !,000 acres in this district. To make a good start such as would warrant the purchase of horses and plant a man would require to have 500 acres cleared and a man should be able to crop by himself with a little assistance at harvest time from 250 to 300 acres. I think that co-operation would be applied to farming and as a matter of fact it is being attempted on a small scale at Bilberin. The land conditions here are easier than any other part of Australia although the Government is taking away one's working capital by way of rent. Every settler should have five years' exemption from rent and it could be tacked on to the back end of his lease. They have had £500 in rent from me while I have been experimenting in order to prove whether the land is any good or not. We have officials of the Agricultural Department and a Wheat Commissioner, but none of them have been out here to tell us what we ought to do or ought not to do in order to make a success of farming.

8161. By Mr VEEN: Are rabbits troublesome at all? - Yes, they are doing a lot of harm and they have increased 75 per cent. in the pat year. They have come to stay. I applied to the Agricultural Bank for wire netting and dog-proof netting. Poison would not be effective without netting. It is an ideal country for rabbits and I had previous experience of them in the Eastern States. I might mention that the freight on a case of fruit from Perth has been doubled in this district.

8162. By the CHAIRMAN: What are the education facilities? - There is no school nearer than Bilberin which is eight miles away, and the nearest doctor is at Narrogin. About 45 per cent. of the settlers have either been killed or are at the Front. Their holdings are being worked. Within eight miles there are 25 or 26 farms and there is no vacant land available at all. I consider the rainfall to be 12½ inches for the last four years.

8163. By Mr PAYNTER: What does clearing cost in this locality?—22s. 6d. It is 4s. 6d. for ringbarking and scrubbing and 18s. for clearing. I think I can make a success of farming here. It is really the season that has been at fault and nothing else. I consider it would be an advantage if the farmer had an allowance of £100 for the erection of a house. At the present time only £30 is allowed if you have other improvements completed. the rabbits have destroyed about 1½ acres of crop on my land. It is too much to expect to have 250 acres