8198. By Mr VEEN: Are rabbits troublesome in this locality?—They have done a great deal of harm. I have lost three or four bags of wheat through them, and they have largely increased during the last 1 months. They are breeding on the lake country particularly. There are not many dingoes. I intend either to go in for sheep or get out. I have very fine grass country. With wheat and sheep a man can get two crops a year.

8199. By the CHAIRMAN: Has the district been assisted by the Department of Agriculture or its experts with advice and assistance in connection with clearing land, cultivation, seed, and so forth?— No. No one from the department has given us any advice. The nearest doctor is in Merredin. There is no doubt this district will be a very good one. We have good land and the crops seem to do well. The land will produce a 15-bushel average. It reached that last year. That is four bushels more than the average of Australia. Similar land to this in the Eastern States is worth £5 or £6 an acre. The Government have announced that the settlers can form a rabbit board in their respective districts, and the machinery is ready for the purpose. They will supply poison so that the settlers can distribute it amongst the rabbits. We have asked the Government to deal with the rabbits on Crown land. There are many blocks that are not occupied at all. These, and the Government reserves, from breeding places.

8200-2. An act was passed conferring powers on vermin boards nine months ago, and yet the settlers have taken no steps for themselves? —Our local association has a letter from the Government to the effect that they were not going to supply poison free to the settler, pointing out that we could obtain it and mix it up for 3d. per lb. ourselves.

(The witness retired.)

________________

ALEXANDER RANKEN, Farmer, Kodinin, sworn and examined:

8203. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been in the district?—Since 1911. I was farming at one time in Gippsland, and practised as an architect in Melbourne. Subsequently I was Town Clerk and engineer for 14 years in Subiaco. Then I came on to the land here. I hold 2,800 acres, of which 2,400 are first class and 400 second class. The two blocks cost 20s., but have been reclassified at 14s. and 15s. 6d. respectively. The other block cost 11s. The land is two miles from the railway. There is no fencing done, but we have 850 acres cleared. The water supply is a rock and pot hole; besides this I have 7,000 gallons of rain water. There is a Government dam half-a-mile away, and I can cart seven loads a day. We have no sheep or fencing, and it is a waste of money to erect the latter at the present time. I am a married man with two children past the school age. I have a five-roomed pug house. The walls are 5in. thick. I have posts in it 3ft. apart reinforced with 2in. netting and the pug in between, and the holes plastered with pug. There is a verandah all round. It is a very cheap house, and after 60 miles cartage, the whole building only cost about £100. I shall be glad to supply the Commission with a specification of the house. The only drawback about it is that the white ants are apt to get into the gimlet, but if jarrah were used the building would be as good as brick. I have 10-stall stables with an iron roof and chaff shed of 10 tons capacity, and am just about to build a machinery shed. I have a set of implements, 10 working horses, a cow, three pigs, and wish we had none at all. When I came here I had about £1,000 capital and borrowed about £900 from the Agricultural Bank. I owe the Industries Assistance Board and creditors probably £900. I have 530 acres of crop averaging 12 bushels.

8204. Have the Agricultural Department given you any advice? - I have not found the Agricultural Department experts useful so far in conveying advice as to the best land to clear, and the seed, and so on, but this information that many inexperienced men must require.

8205. The department Is maintained by the taxpayers, who believe that these functions are being carried out? - I have heard nothing of them expect what one reads in the papers. An inspector should be sent around regularly as we are apt to mess things up somewhat, and we are experimenting actually half our time. The rabbits are here, and yet no one seems to know it officially. Now, we know nothing at all about rabbits, and there are all amateurs like ourselves. We are experimenting, and doing things topsy-turvy very likely, but it becomes a very serious matter when you find out that you have been doing the wrong thing, whereas a word of advice from an experienced official might prevent such a happening. There are the requisite number of children for a school here, and it is to be erected in March next. The nearest doctor is at Narrogin. The climate here is of the finest in the world. Altogether there are 13 or 14 settlers in the locality.

8206. By Mr PAYNTER: How much of the land is fallow? - 240 acres. I may say that we have had a shock in connection with fallow. My object was to fallow everything at one time, but I do not feel that way now. Fallow this year beat everything out of sight, and we thought we were going to get a 40 bushel crop, but the fallow grew straw and no head. It yielded 14 bushels, just a trifle better than the other. the same thing happened last year.

8207. In September it started to mature?—The other crops went off to a certain extent. It grew tall, possibly due to the new soil. We put Federation on the best soil, and got little or nothing off it. The Gluyas yielded 14 bushels. There was a lot of potash in the soil, due to the heavy fires that had been burnt on it. We plough four inches deep, but the shallower you fallow the better here. We were in the dark, of course, and did not know, and had no such source from which to obtain advice. The average last year was 12½ bushels, but we got the super two months late through the Government humbugging us. It costs 31s. to put in and take off a crop here, including bags, super, and household expenses; nominal wages are allowed in that estimate. I use an eight furrow State disc plough and seven horses, but the work is too heavy. I do five acres a day. The difficulty is we can only five discs with seven horses. I hope that, in time, we will be able to get a tractor. I understand the Bates "Steel Mule" was tried in Adelaide, but was condemned because it had too many working parts, and so was likely to break down. I also understand that the "Ballarat," which is made by Jobart Bros., was a better tool. In trying