hels. The officials of the Agricultural Bank have never been of any assistance here in the giving of advice or information as to farming methods. We have got nothing from them individually and all that we know of them is what they have contributed to the newspapers.

8185. By Mr. PAYNTER: How much of that was fallowed?-- Only 180 acres and it was the worst of the crop. I plough to six inches deep. I have only given it one cultivation. Previous to that I cultivated twice and got 22 bushels to the acre, that was in 1913. In the drought year I got three bushels. I favour Federation, sowing a bushel to the acre with 80lbs. of super. My highest average yield was 18 bushels, in 1913 and 1915. I have two ploughs: a three-furrow mould-board and a 10-furrow disc. In the latter I use eight discs and do eight acres a day. I have a 17 cultivator which does 12 acres daily, a 12-drill which does 12 acres and with the binder I cut eight acres. I have a seven-foot Sunshine harvester which does 13 acres. No doubt the use of larger implements and teams should reduce costs to a certain extent, but of course their use depends upon the nature of the land. The plant I handling now is being knocked to pieces through mallee stumps. Last year I could not get labour to get suckers and roughly 560 acres has cost me £700. The tariff is undoubtedly injurious to the farmer with a duty of 33 per cent. on implements, while the binder is exempt, and yet is double the price that it is in the country where it is improved. Last year I think I had Septoria in my Federation. I pickle but not grade the wheat. I have not tried artificial grasses or fodder crops, but vegetables do well here in winter. I pay a harvester hand £3 and two other men £2 10s. a week and keep. A settler in this district should have at least 1,000 acres in order to make a decent living. If I was starting I would not go on the land until I had 500 acres cleared, and a man ought to be able to crop 200 acres by himself annually. My land in its natural state is useless but it grows good grass once it is improved. I had to cut suckers until after I got the third crop off and the clearing costs me 32s. down to 27s. an acre.

8186. By Mr. VENN: Have rabbits been at all destructive in your locality?-- They have not done me much harm but they are more plentiful round Dunn's Soak. The two things of importance out here are the conservation of water and fencing it in to prevent rabbits from getting at it, and then there is the destruction rabbits that should be taken in hand by means of poison. If I had a sufficient water supply myself I could run enough stock to pay the indebtedness to the Government but I cannot run sheep for want of fencing and wire is impossible to obtain. I would have had cattle before now, but there is no market where one can secure stores. What poison we have eradicated has been done at great expense. The ploughing kills a good many poison plants and the first fires germinate the seed but the second fires often kill them. I have a 2,000 acre block priced at 12s. which is infested with poison. I pull the poison out by the roots at the flowering stage.

8187. By the CHAIRMAN: What have your crops averaged since you have been here?-- Thirteen bushels over four years. Another thing I would like to mention is that I consider the settler should have a 3,000 yard dam so as to ensure him a permanent water supply. I can get down 14 feet deep in my country and on a large holding like mine I would require a dam of that size in addition to smaller ones; from now on is our driest period. The land is all right and with sympathetic treatment by the Government I am convinced that settlers can make a success of it. The department have issued notices that we are to sow two-thirds of our crop with early wheat. I am opposed to that, because early wheats will not hold up.

(The witness retired.) ________________

JOHN McINERHENY (McInerheny & Courboules), Farmer, Kurren Kutten, sworn and examined:

8188. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been in this district?-- Since 1913. I have been farming all my life at Morgan, South Australia, and Beverley. I and my partner hold 5,000 acres, 4,000 are first class and the balance grazing, lake salt bush country. I paid 10s. for the first class and 5s. for the other, and have 9½ miles carting to the railway. It is all fenced and subdivided, and 1,400 acres are cleared. I have a 1,000 yards dam with water in it, and another one alongside it which we pump into during the winter months. It is 9ft. 6in. deep. I am putting down a dam now eight feet, but we thought of making it 15 feet deep. I am a single man, and I have a house lined with asbestos, no stables or machinery shed, a full set of implements, 26 working horses. We have a farm in East Beverley, and work the two properties together. I have 540 sheep and 42 head of cattle. We had sufficient capital when we started to take up the land, and borrowed £2,500 from the Agricultural Bank, while the Industries Assistance Board paid the rent one year and charged us interest on it. We have 520 acres of crop, which produced 365 bags. The country is heavy morrell and gimlet. Last year we got 50 tons of hay and 450 bags of wheat from 90 acres.

8189. By Mr. PAYNTER: How much of your land was fallow?-- I have 280 acres fallow. I plough four inches deep. We got a better crop off what we ploughed and sowed in June. Last year we had Penny's, and this year Steinwedel went two bags to the acre. We have only had two crops. If we had a three-bag crop in conjunction with stock we could make a fair revenue out of it. I have a 10-furrow disc plough in which I use eight horses and do 12 acres a day, a 17-cultivator doing 16 acres a day, a 13-drill doing 13 acres, and a Massey-Harris stripper-thresher, which is very satisfactory and can do about 14 acres. The tariff makes farming a very expensive operation. The crop looked like three bags but the grain was not there, and I blame the dry season for it. I pickled the wheat and put it through the winnower. Wages ordinarily are about 30s. a week and keep. The minimum quantity of land that a man should have in this district should be between 2,000 and 3,000 acres. The Government should give us 10 years free of rent or else spread the payments over 40 or 50 years. We have always to yard the sheep on account of the dogs. We have them in a stubble paddock, and they have water all night. The dogs have been here in the day time, but as a rule they are about at night; 5,000 acres should carry 1,200 sheep all year round, possibly with