Part 7

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fixed on account of the rainfall. It is an anomaly that the price of land at Lake Grace is 15s., while going south of that the maximum price is 20s. Lake Grace has remained at the old price that was fixed years ago. Immediately north at Kulin and Kukerin the maximum was fixed at 15s. In Victoria location 4591 the original price was fixed at 19s., and it has been reduced to 14s. under the Repricing Bill. Some blocks were 40s. and they got the highest reduction under the Bill. Block Victoria location 4082 was valued at 22s. originally , and is now reduced to 13s. That is in the Morowa area. I quote that to show how those districts have been reduced, and ours has not been. Coming nearer here we have east of Wickepin, Avon location 15009; the original price was 22s., but was reduced to 14s.; that is Kondinin Lake subdivision. That is immediately north of the Lake Grace.

8499-500. What reason is given to explain the failure to reduce the Lake Grace lands?- I do not know, except that I assume they thought the rainfall was better there than in the north. Yet the line was delayed. I consider the Lake Grace rainfall to be 14 inches. The only assumption is as you go east, the rainfall drops, but you must remember that you are going into the sea coast influence, as the ocean is only 70 miles distant. We get the Albany Doctor at 3 p.m., and at Wagin 5 p.m., and as you go east you run into the influence of the Great Australian Bight. Mr. Shields. who is half-way between Nyabing and Kukerin has a 13 inch rainfall. I compared his records to Wagin, and it showed two or three inches more. The area of his records were also the lowest of the Wagin records. I arrived at the conclusion that the rainfall was 14 inches there. Men lost their capital through waiting for the line, and a now they are loaded with heavily priced lands. But the production of wheat does not depend entirely on the rainfall. One of the biggest factors is the frost. At Wongan Hills they got up to 30 bushels. I say the district suffers as much from frost as from want of rain. It is hard to say where the frosts begin, but they practically run over the whole of the table land, that is the whole of the wheat areas this side of the Darling Range. I have seen natural grasses going into seed in September and going quite white. That was when I was surveying Herbert & Buchanan's farm south of Mulyelling. I attribute poor yields to frost. The Lake Grace land should produce 24 bushels. The rainfall does not account for it but the frost does. Mr Forbes had a crop six feet high which you would say would go 24 bushels, but he only got yield of 10. Generally the frosts were late and we therefore noticed them more. They did the damage when the crops were coming into ear. The rainfall does not entirely govern the question of pricing the land. Williams location 10158 at Lake Grace was valued at 17s. and has not been altered; 10410 is an area that has not been sold on the west side of Lake Grace and is priced at 12s.; 10770 was priced at 12s. and remains the same ; 9744 on the west of Lake Grace was priced at 15s. and remains at that price ; 9185 is Ike Smiths block at Kukerin and was valued at 20s. but came down to 19s. under the Repricing Bill. As far as our district is concerned, the Bill has hardly affected us at all. I have instances of 8s. at Kondinin and they are under the same conditions, and there is no doubt that the settlers should have had the benefit of the Repricing Bill. When the line was surveyed to Dumbleyung I know the price was being raised fro definite purposes. I reported that we had the line completed and many area surveyed and that no provision for water supply or roads had been made. Loan money was obtained for the purposes of roads and water. We had done thousands of pounds worth of road clearing. When I started there was no road here except the old sandal wood track, and every time we had to clear our own tracks, which were eventually used as roads. Thousands of pounds were spent out of those loans until the Labour Government can in and the money ceased. We have had £1,400 only in four years spent in the district whereas in previous years when money was plentiful probably £6,000 to £8,000 was spent, but the point is these moneys have ceased and they are going on taking the bank revenue from the land and we are getting no benefit from it. Loan moneys were raised for a definite purpose and the revenue should be abolished and an amount given to the Roads Board and to the Railway Department for water supply. If the Railway Department got that revenue Mr.Short could not say he was losing his lines, but the State is not losing because they are receiving that increased revenue. We were instructed to value land at £2, but the highest we made ten years ago 25s., and those values they have adopted today. I hope the Commission goes into the matter and obtains figures from the Department. We spent 17 millions on the whole of the railways of this State and we paid £680,000 interest and sinking fund. The whole of that is taken out of the producers through the freights. Who is benefitting from the expenditure of the 17 millions? It has built up Perth and increased values there and they have escaped. The interest and sinking fund should he taken off the producer and spread over the whole of the State. It was never credited to Mr. Short. From a railway point of view his figures are correct. He is called upon to find interest and sinking fund out of earnings. He does that by increasing freights and making the producers pay. The Lands Department have increased their revenue which is paid into the consolidated revenue and spent all over the State. In Australia a proportion goes back to the Roads Board. A lot is being said about the Agricultural railways, but in the last four years £1,700,000 was spent on agricultural railways, and £1,400,00 was received in land revenue for the same period, showing that if that which is an asset of the State had been set aside against the building of the railways it would have provided the railways. Eggs go down as low as 5d. dozen. If we had adequate cold storage in Perth they could get 1s. 3d. for them. We are in the hands of private individuals. Private enterprise will not do it because they are afraid the Government will compete with them. Therefore ewe are in the hands of the middlemen. I myself believe that the Great Southern District and the wheat belt is going to be dairying country. The local merchant can only get a pastry butter price for butter sent down to Perth because the butter is made by so many different people and has no uniformity.

8501. By Mr. VENN : The champion butter maker in this State is at Tammin, while Dowerin had the largest output in the State for two months of the year, last year.