was 13s. 6d., but under the new classification was reduced to 11s. The property is 15 miles from the railway; 750 acres are fenced and 700 cleared. There is an 800-yard dam eight feet deep which is dry. We could get it deeper now. There is also the Government well. I am married man with two sons and a daughter, and my house is of canvas and iron. I have eight stall stables and a bush shed for machinery, a full set of implements with the exception of a plough, and nine working horses. When I came here I had £1,000 cash and borrowed £700 from the Agricultural Bank, and I am on the Industries Assistance Board. We expect to have 1,000 bags to rail. After that my debit would only be a small amount. The board had the wheat last year, and my son wanted £50 with which to get married but they refused him, and so a good man has been driven off the land. The block adjoining my son's was abandoned, and every other block as well. The land is as good as it can be, but the Government through want of business management are driving people off the land. I have 550 acres of crop, but the yield will only be six bushels owing to the September dry spell entirely.

8169. By Mr. PAYNTER: What quantity of your crop was fallowed?-- We had no fallow. We have only ploughed 12 acres on contract. I found Federation, Gluyas, and Baroota Wonder the best seed, and sow 40 to 50lbs. of seed to the acre, while a bag of super does four acres. Last year there was a five-bag average, which was the highest of my two crops. I have a 13-disc, but we have increased our horse power since by three or four horses. We used to do eight or nine acres a day. We have an 11-drill which does 10 acres. I have not used harrows. I have an I.H.C. harvester which does seven to eight acres. The tariff I consider to be absolutely the ruination of the industry. I do not think that anything in the shape of duty should be imposed on the primary producer that whereby the wealth of the State is reduced. Bulk handling would reduce costs on account of the expense of the bags. They cost 11¼d. here at the present time. To take the wheat to the siding one would need bags which could be returned and used again on the farm. I have had no disease in my crops. I pickle but do not grade. Vegetables and fruit trees will not do any good in our class of land. I employ two men regularly at 30s. a week and keep. It is impossible to say how many hours a man works on the farm. A man with a team starting at nine o'clock knocks off at noon, and works again from about 2.15 to sundown. The hours on a farm are different from those worked in any other industry. I have handled men all my life as a military man, and have more than the ordinary experience with men. However, it is quite impossible to arrive at the number of hours worked on a farm. The labour itself is fair to medium only. One man should not hold less than 1,500 acres in this district, and he cannot make a living unless he has sheep. He should have 450 acres cleared to start with, and he should not be expected to do more than 250 acres himself, with a little help at harvest time. The principle of co-operation should be applied to farmers. I believe that they have started a co-operative society in the neighbourhood to work in conjunction with the Farmer's and Settlers' Association. My opinion is that the State does not encourage people to settle on the land. The land itself is all right, but the methods adopted are not likely to keep people there to produce. Take my own case. My family took up two blocks of land. We were given a plan showing a projected railway five miles distant, and the Surveyor General admitted that the land was priced in accordance with the quality of the land, and the distance from the line. We have been here actually six years, and have been carting 60 miles. In addition to this, after battling harder than African slaves on the land here for four years, we find that the routes of the railway have been shifted. The Government sold me land, as I told Mr. W.D. Johnson, under conditions that, had they been transacted by a private firm, would have them brought into court on the charge of false pretences. The consequence is that everyone in this area, which was distinctly promised a railway on the plan, has been robbed by the Western Australian Government. Had it not been for the promise conveyed by the plan I would not have spent a penny on the land in Western Australia. As it is my military pension supports me and not the land. The production of every bag of wheat is wealth to the country, and those of us who are farming are not getting something for nothing. The treatment that we have undergone here is worse that is meted out to Africans or Chinese in other parts of the world. No land should be more than 10s. an acre, and it should be so situated that the farmer could take a load of wheat in a day and get back home again. Rents are dragged out of the settler by the Government in the manner of Shylock. Actually they should be remitted for the first five years. I do not think there is a man within 30 miles of this centre whose earnings have averaged 5s. a week since he has been on the land. Personally, I came out here for the benefit of my sons. Now the intention seems to be to build a railway from Kondinin to Merredin but I ask, is there any sense in building a line parallel to the Great Southern. The ordinary sensible man would imagine that the railways would go east and west. Every shilling by which you increase the cost of the farmer's production is 2s. lost to the production of the State. Then, again, why should we have to pay duty on a harvester. When the Trades Hall man gets his tools in free, should we not our tools in free? Why should we have a duty on bags when we do not manufacture them. Then the railways charge one 15s. to convey £5 worth of tucker. I consider the Kondinin-Merredin line, a waste of money. There is the Bruce Rock line, which can be turned straight out and would serve the generality of the settlers far better.

8170. By Mr. VENN: Are the rabbits a nuisance out here?-- They are getting very bad. If I was making good I should have money to spend on netting. I was asked a short time ago whether I believed in fallowing. One might just as well ask a hungry man if he believed in beef steak.

8171. Mr. PAYNTER: Some of them do not believe in it.

8172. By Mr. VENN: Do you intend to go in for sheep?-- We have the best grass country I have seen, and if I could obtain sheep on extended terms it would be a great advantage. But then, again, there are dogs. Nevertheless, sheep is the most important item to make a man safe, and put him on a good footing. If I had had sheep I would have been £150 to the good. I could put 250 sheep on to fatten. I have nothing, however, to say against the land, but I have a great deal of objection to the charges in the shape of taxes and duties. The farmer is being slowly bled. Though the land is as good as it can be, those on it are being ruined through the rotten administration. (The witness retired.)