is not permanent. It was put down five years ago. I have had two or three neighbours' horses drinking it and I intend to sink it deeper. I was carting last year for two months. I am a married man with a boy at school in Kalgoorlie, and have a two-roomed hessian camp. My wife is not with me. I have bush stables with iron roof, but no machinery shed, a set of implements, seven working horses. I had £500 capital when I came here. I borrowed £700 from the Agricultural Bank. I have no other debts. I have 319 acres under crop, averaging eight bushels.

8430. By Mr/ PAYNTER: How much of that was fallow?-- No fallow. I had no time to fallow. This year I shall have 150 acres of fallow. I plough five inches deep. I have already worked it once this year and will work it again before seeding. I turned it over in October last year. I had to wait for the rain. I have only one team. It takes till the middle of June before I finish seeding. I have just finished carting and I have a month's work in front of me carting posts. The I will cultivate the ground for seeding.

8431. Would it be better to go on cultivating now and seeding earlier?-- The ground is hard now an it is necessary for me to get some fencing down. I use Yandilla, Lotts, Federation, and Steinwedel. I pickle, but I do not grade. I have had no disease. I use 64lbs. of super to the acre. it costs 31s. to put in and take off a crop, including the wages and interest and depreciation. Clearing costs 25s. an acre, but the Agricultural Bank only allows you 20s. The highest average I have had was five bags three years ago from 125 acres. The tariff is very heavy on the farmer. From reading I believe that bulk handling should be adopted here. I employ to put in and take off the crop, if I can get it and pay £2 a week and keep to put in and £2 5s. at harvest time. I employ labour, therefore, for three months and two months respectively. A man should hold 2,000 acres of land here. To give him a good start, he should have 400 acres ready to work before he gets a team and horses. He should crop by himself with help at harvest time 250 acres. There is land in this district that will never grow anything. Nevertheless, the settlers have to pay rent for it. There are several near me who are paying rent on the land that will never be any good, such as gravelly hills and mallet country. The rents are far too high; for the best land 15s. should be the limit. If a farmer had his land free of rent for five or six years, the money could be put into improvements. And he should only be asked to pay for his land as it becomes gradually productive. Settlers' homes ought to be provided in the country. They only grant £30 to the farmer, while in the town they have a system of workers' homes. The man on the land is entitled to some consideration. Sheep are essential. I have cut 2,000 posts, but wire is too high in price. If a man had the opportunity of fencing off only 200 acres for sheep, it would be a great advantage to him.

8432. By the CHAIRMAN: Men like you should be assisted by the State-- If a man could only make sure of getting regular assistance, it would be a great boon and two men would do more in one day than the one man would do in three by himself.

Mrs. SAVAGE, Mrs. BIRCH, and Mrs. PARKER waited on the Commission with requests. 8433-4. Mrs. Savage: We are anxious to know whether we can be supplied with a good general nurse in this district, one who, of course, will make her charges. There is a great deal of sickness here at the present time.

8435. Mrs. Birch said that there was not sufficient work or a nurse to do the whole year round, but her presence was vitally necessary at times.

8436. Mrs. Savage said it cost 12 or 15 guineas to bring the doctor from Wagin and if a nurse were appointed, a lot of trouble and expense would be obviated. There was also great need for decently housing the settlers. The grant of £30 made by the Agricultural Bank was no use for the purpose of building houses. There is plenty of suitable clay for burning bricks in the district and houses built of that material would be cheaper than jarrah, and they would also be as cheap as mud bricks. If you have a mud brick house and have no verandah, it gradually melts away. Also plenty of rainwater tanks should be supplied to the homes. These provisions would do away with a lot of the sickness prevalent here. There is also an absurd restriction against the delivery of fruit in this district and this should be abolished. The majority of the farmers have cows. We think that a medical officer should be sent periodically to the school, as some of the children attend there in a very dirty condition. Most of the houses in this locality are of the sickle brand type. (The witness retired.) _________________

GEORGE EDWARDS, Farmer, Moulyinning, sworn and examined:

8437. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been here?-- Since 1912. I had no previous experience of farming. I was contracting for raods and buildings. I hold 1,800 acres between my wife and myself; 1,000 acres is first class, the balance second and third. The second class is sandplain and the third is scrub. The price is 20s., 10s. and 7s. 6d., respectively. I am four miles from the railway. I have 700 acres fenced with three and four wires and 600 acres cleared. I have a small dam which is now dry. I am a married man with six children, who are attending school four and a-half miles distant. I have an iron house, bush stables, an iron shed (60 by 20), a set of implements except a drill, eight working horses, 16 cattle, 20 pigs. I have spent £1,500 of my capital, and have enough to see me through. I have 230 acres of crop going nine bushels.

8438. By Mr. PAYNTER: How much of that is fallow?-- None of it. Last year it was very dry, and so much so that I did not think it worth while to fallow. I have fallowed for this year and ploughed about four inches deep. A neighbour of mine who ploughs deep gets the best results. I dug up a sour piece of ground and planted wheat in with my finger, and got a beautiful crop, and I have grown wheat successfully in the subsoil excavated from the tank. Two of us were asked to come here and say why wheat-growing did not pay. Personally I am independent, but my idea why wheat-farming does not pay is that the price we have to pay to produce it is too high. I can tell you a case where I paid 36s. cash for a coil of barbed wire. I sent to Perth for some more, and it cost 24s. plus 3s. freight. Another man bought