8296. Do you consider the departmental experts are assisting the pioneer agriculturist with advice and information?—I do not think so, they do not come round enough. I have never seen any one of them. I have read of them in the papers. Experimenting is left to the settler. The Agricultural Bank have appointed inspectors recently, and they are guiding the settlers I believe, but there is a very great deal yet that could be done to assist them.

8297. By Mr VEEN: Is poison very prevalent here? —We have Narrow leaf, Box and Kite leaf, but the last named is not a thing to be nervous about. We are outside the York Road poison here.

8298. By the CHAIRMAN: What do you think your prospects are? - I have every hope that I can battle through , but some of the small holders, unless they work on the three years' system should turn it up. They must utilise their stubble for stock. Personally, I was selling fat sheep from April at 8d. per lb. If there is any hope of the Government assisting settlers with sheep it should be done. They cannot expect to buy sheep at present prices, but if they can improve their holdings with water and clear against the time the they can procure sheep. It is the only hope they have of pulling through. Of course there are some who do not know a sheep from a goat. One man told me he was going in for sheep, but he had no netting. He said he was going to shepherd them. He has a two wire-fence on his boundary and poison outside. (The witness retired.)

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JOHN CHESTER DYSON, Farmer, "Ferndale," Walyurin, sworn and examined:

8299. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been in this district? - Since 1912. I had a stone quarry formerly, and a horse farm also in Lancashire before I came to this state. I hold 2,400 acres, five miles from the railway; 1,000 acres is first class and the rest grazing land. It was priced at 12s., 13., and 8s. respectively. I have only 60 acres fenced, but I have 650 acres cleared, two dams of 1,000 and 800 cubic yards in capacity. They are both permanent and 10 feet deep. I intend to make them longer and deeper. I am a married man with three children, one attends school four miles away. I have a five roomed bat house, bush stables and am erecting proper stables and shed. I have a set of implements, eight working horses, a cow, a few pigs and poultry. I had £1,600 capital when I came here, and borrowed £650 from the Agricultural Bank. I owe the Industries Assistance Board and other creditors £500. I have 250 acres in crop averaging seven bushels.

8300. By Mr PAYNTER: How much of that was fallow? - 84 acres. I believe in nothing but fallow myself. I plough four inches deep. If we plough deeper we get into sour ground. If we plough light we have plenty of roots. The land should be cultivated twice, but for a few years the roots cannot be got rid of. I run a cultivator before the drill. I like World's Champion and Federation. I have sown also Bunyip, but I am not greatly in favour of early wheats. I believe in early sowing a good medium wheat suitable to the locality. I sow 100lbs of seed and a cwt. of super. to the acre. I have stripped in the past 400 acres for 200 bags of wheat. If the present duties were removed, it would be great help to the industry, and if the whole of the freight was taken off, it would not mean so very much after all. I use about 15 tons a year. The difference is the revenue would be but slight and only as a drop in the ocean. It is the system under which we farm that is at fault. We have to pay somehow, and if we did not do so through the tariff we would have to do it through taxes. The Government have always advocated a big area of clearing and advance money for the purpose. I dare say cleared country is a good asset, but when we have cleared that, that is not farming. I have a son at the front. I cannot say I have been actually farming yet. but I have helped to make a couple of hundred farms, and improved them in England. A man cannot deal with the big areas we are supposed to deal with, as already he has to work from daylight to dark on seven days in the week. Our land is not as cleared as it should be, and we are only getting half the crops we ought to get. I do not think wheat a payable proposition. We want encouragement to make smaller paddocks. To fence before clearing is merely to waste money. One should start clearing around the homestead and making small paddocks and have stock. Wheat growing is only one thing on a farm. There are sheep, pigs, cows and poultry that must eventually be included. The settler should put up proper buildings and good roofing, and catch all the water he can. Then again the settlers machinery out there is always out in the open, while if it was treated with care it should last a lifetime. In a word more economy should be practised by the settlers. (The witness retired.)

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ROBERT ENGLISH, Farmer, Wickepin, sworn and examined:

8301. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been in the district? - Since 1909. I was all my life farming in South Australia at Quorn, Riverton, Balaclava, etc., but I have been here over 20 years. I have been working on the railways. I hold 996 acres; 800 is first class. The property is eight miles from the railway, and the price averages 8s. 6d. an acre. It is ring-fenced, and subdivided into eight paddocks; 710 acres are cleared. I have three small dams, one of 1,000 yards, one 200 yards, and one 650 yards. The first one is new, and the two others have run dry. They are 10 feet deep. To go deeper is very hard on the horses. I am a married man with six children, one of whom goes to school. I have an iron and hessian house, bush stables, and machinery shed, a set of implements, eight working horses, two buggy ponies, a saddle horse, three foals, 18 pigs. I had no capital when I came here. I borrowed £1 to take up a homestead area. The Agricultural Bank lent me £870, and I owe the Industries Assistance Board and creditors £800. I have 640 acres of crop averaging six bushels. The mistake I made was in putting in too much early wheat. The crop looked like 15 bushels at one time.

8302. By Mr PAYNTER: How much of that was fallow? - 260 acres. I plough four to five inches deep. I did not cultivate it as I did not have horse fed to do it with. We sent as much wheat away as we could, and did not cut enough for our own hay. I favour Federation for seed, and sow a bushel to the acre. I should use 60lbs. of super., but I use 16 tons to 640 acres. The highest average yield that I have had was 21 bushels in 1913. The trouble with me is that I have not