day, poisoned with phosphorus and pollard. I secured a poison cart and set it going after seeding and at seeding time with very great success.

8409. By the CHAIRMAN: Are you aware that your fallow ploughed in September is not fallow at all?-- Without stocking farming will not be a success here. I cannot afford to buy stock or to net-fence. My average for eight years has been 10 bushels. I have no poison, but I have any amount of salt bush. This is really stock country. If Lake Grace were fenced and the rabbits destroyed, one could carry 1,000 sheep on 1,700 acres.

                                    (The witness retired)
                                   
                                    _________________

JOHN STEPHEN MARSHALL, Lake Evelyn Farm, Lake Grace, farmer, sworn and examined:

8410. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been here?-- Since 1911. I have been farming all my life in Victoria. I hold 912 acres; 830 are first class, and the price is 15s. 6d. I am eight miles from the railway. I have 90 chains of fencing altogether, 350 acres are cleared. I have a 1,000-yard dam now dry. I am a single man, and have a two-roomed hut, and a bush shed, a set of implements, six working horses, and two pigs. When I started I had £70 earned clearing, and I borrowed £525 from the Agricultural Bank and I have other liabilities, the amount of which I do not know. I have 320 acres in crop going nine bushels. I lost 50 acres of my crop through rabbits. They have greatly increased during the last few months. They are twice as thick as they were last year, and they are burrowing everywhere. If there is no other way, I think poison should be applied. I do not think I will get much crop this year. When the crops are low they strip the heads off, and unless we are helped I do not think we can grow crops much longer. The farmer should be helped to sink a dam of 2,000 yards instead of one of 1,000. 8410a. By Mr. VENN: Is the country good for sheep?-- It is the best sheep country I have seen.

                                                 (The witness retired.)
                                                 _________________

HUGH LOWE LEE, Farmer, Lake Grace, sworn and examined:

8411. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been here?-- Since 1915. I have been all my life farming in Victoria and in this State. I hold 1,000 acres, eight miles from the railway. I have 250 acres cleared, and half a mile of fencing. I have one 1,000 yard dam. I have a canvas and iron house and two sheds. I had £150 capital when I came here, and borrowed £300 from the bank, while my liabilities amount to £60. I put in 80 acres of crop, and got half a ton of hay off it and 52 bags of wheat off the balance, leaving an average of about three bushels. I want to get on the Industries Assistance Board. One of the blocks that I took up recently is not what is it represented to be, and it took all my capital. There were 150 acres cleared but the water was salt, and I had to cart water for my wife and family. It cost me 10s. to do the clearing on which there was 10s. already. I want fencing and manure most of all. Last Sunday the inspector told me that he had nothing to do with the matter. I wanted him to look over the land so that he could see how I was situated, and that I wanted to get on the Board. There were not many rabbits when I came here first, but there are plenty now. There are reserves around here which are barred to settlement, and they should be thrown open. There are at least 1,000 acres of this kind of land. Things are rather lackadaisical here. Dingoes are troublesome, and cows in calf have to be kept near the house on account of them. I think, however, that the district will be a good one.

                                                               (The witness retired.)
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BENJAMIN ALFRED GRIFFITHS, Farmer, Lake Grace, sworn and examined:

8412. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been farming here?-- I came here in 1916 and hold 1,000 acres. I have been farming all my life round Fagin and in South Australia. I have 200 acres cleared and I have a 1,200-yard dam, which is full. I have an iron house, no stables or shed, a set of implements, 14 working horses. I also manage my brother-in-law's property adjoining. I have three cows. I had no capital except horses and plant worth £500 and borrowed £250 from the Agricultural Bank. I had 100 acres of crop on my brother-in-law's land, and 200 acres on my own. They will average nine bushels. Rabbits are very troublesome and rabbit-netting is badly wanted.

8413. By the CHAIRMAN: You should lay poison and fence in your water with netting which will be supplied by the Government. Then cause the Rabbit Board to be turned into a Vermin Board, which will have arbitrary powers in connection with the destruction of rabbits?-- I can make a success of my farm if I can only get rid of the rabbits. The rainfall is 13 inches, but that is quite sufficient for wheat.

                                                  (The witness retired.)
                                                       ____________

ERNEST WILFRED BENNETT, Farmer, Lake Grace, sworn and examined:

8414. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been here?-- Since 1910. I was farming for seven years in Dumbleyung with my father and I had a farm of my own also. Here I have 2,000 acres, of which 1,600 is first class and the balance lake and salt bush country. I paid 14s. for 1,029 acres and the rest I selected before survey at 10s. I have 4½ miles cartage to the railway; 1,500 acres are fenced with two and four wires; 520 acres are cleared. I have two dams, one 1,000 yards and the other 2,300 yards. The latter is 10 feet deep. I could go down another couple of feet if necessary. I am a married man, with three children, and have a good house, an iron stable and shed, a set of implements, 12 working horses, 30 young horses, no other stock. I had about £1,000 cash and the same quantity of stock as I have to-day, worth perhaps £700. I borrowed £298 from the Agricultural Bank on the second block. A year ago I could pay all my liabilities. I had 800 acres under crop, 180 was destroyed by rabbits, but the balance went barely five bushels. I will not be clear of debt after disposing of my crop. I am seriously thinking of either cropping no more this year or else of clearing a larger area.