ALFRED GANNAWAY, Farmer, Dumbleyung, sworn and examined:

8510. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been settled in this district?-- I came here in 1911, but had no previous experience of farming. I was a grocer's assistant. I hold 850 acres, about 150 acres are first class and 600 acres good second class. The balance is gravel and sand. The second class is gimlet with swampy mallet and ti-tree. It is from two to three miles distant from the railway. Four hundred acres are fenced and 430 cleared. I depend upon a soak, which is permanent, for my water supply and there is also a town dam. I am a married man with three boys; one attends school. I have a four-roomed weatherboard house, no stables or shed. I have a set of implements, nine working horses, eight pigs and poultry. I had £180 capital when I started and borrowed £100 from the Agricultural Bank and £225 from the National Bank, and from my father-in-law £200. All told I owe about £750. I have 200 acres of crop, going about seven bushels. My brother was with me, but he went to the war and was killed and I am now on my own. We have given it a good chance, and yet we seem to be sinking. I have cleared the largest part of the first class land. The average for five years is eight bushels. I am paying for first class land rent that amounts to £17 a year, and with living expense I am working it at a loss. I generally have 100 acres fallowed.

8511. What can we do to help you?-- I want further loans to make the land better and to have more fallow. On the second class land, with good working, it would come close up to the first class land. I want 200 to 300 acres more cleared and I want a dam. If an advance was made over my property and my wife's, it would save time getting water.

8512. To Mr. PAYNTER: A promissory note to Wills & Co., £24, came due on the 1st and was not met. I wrote and told them that would be the case. They told me I would not have any further credit and that, therefore, I could not do any cropping this year unless I could get manure. (The witness retired.) _________________

WILLIAM JAMES KELLY, Farmer, Bullock Hills, Dumbleyung, sworn and examined:

8513. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been in this district?-- I have been six years on the land and the first crop was a failure. The following two years I got 10 bushels. In 1914, I got 2½ bushels, last year five bushels, and this year 10. I do all my own work. I can make it pay well with 10 bushels. I hold 825 acres, 9½ miles from the railway. I have 350 acres cleared of heavy timber. I have not touched the light land. I have a set of implements, seven working horses, one cow. The uncleared land has narrow leaf poison on it. My liabilities to the Agricultural Bank are £400 and I had £300 besides. After this harvest, my total liabilities should be about £120. (The witness retired.)

The Commission adjourned. ______________________

FRIDAY, 23rd FEBRUARY, 1917. (At Nippering.) ____________ Present: J.O. Giles, Esq., Chairman. H.H. Paynter, Esq., F.E. Venn, Esq. _____________

JOHN FOSTER LINDSAY, Farmer, Nippering, sworn and examined:

8514. By the CHAIRMAN: how long have you been in this district?-- I came here in 1905. I was farming all my life in South Australia. I hold 870 acres, 250 first class; the balance consist of light soils, on which you have to use manure, but you would not on the first class. That leaves 650 acres that I can crop. The price is 10s. an acre, and it is two and a-half miles from the railway. It is all sheep-proof fenced and subdivided into six paddocks. Five hundred acres are cleared. I have a dam 11 feet deep. It goes dry in the summer months. I could not get deeper with safety. I have soaks, but they are not permanent. I am a married man with one child. There was a school in the neighbourhood, but it was taken away on account of insufficient attendance. Nearly all bachelors live round here. I have a four-roomed weatherboard house, bush stables, and an iron shed, set of implements, 12 working horses, six cattle, 100 sheep and pigs. I had £500 capital when I came here, and borrowed £385 from the Agricultural Bank. I am paying that off, and I have no other liabilities. I have 260 acres of crop going 15 bushels. I had some oats which went about 18 bushels.

8515. Have you ever had any advice or assistance from the officials of the Agricultural Department as to methods of farming, and so on?-- I have never come into contact with any of them and the department has, therefore, been of no use to me.

8516. By Mr. PAYNTER: Do you believe in fallow?-- There is a great deal of advantage in fallowing. This year it makes two bags difference, and