Part 7

Page 534
image 99 of 100

This transcription is complete

He took up clearing and took a contract from a man to clear some salmon gum forest country. The inspector said it was worth about £1 an acre, but this man cleared 150 acres for just £50 worth of tucker. This man was able to do this work after 12 months residence in the State. We think that if we advance £1 an acre, and a man can clear the land for just his tucker, it is a good price to advance. This particular man had a little money when he arrived, and the farmer whose land he was clearing actually borrowed money from him. When the land had been cleared the farmer got a certificate from a neighbour, drew the money, and left for the Eastern States. The man who did the work came to Perth to find out where the owner was. We told him we had paid him the money. the result was, however, that we were able to give the man the farm, so that he got some return for his work. After land has been ringbarked it can be cleared at an even cheaper rate than that.

8633. The amount advanced by the bank has been sufficient if all settlers had shown the same adaptability as that particular man showed?-- If a farmer has 250 acres to clear, why should he not let 150 of it under contract and clear the balance himself? Instead of doing that they usually sit down and let someone else do the work. If a man can clear 150 acres for £50 worth of tucker, it is a disgrace that he does not do it, at all events before he becomes fully occupied with the seeding and harvesting of his crop.

8634. Then the charges made against the bank in this respect will not hold good?-- It can be done, as I have shown. There are, of course, some cases where a man does not understand his job.

8635. By Mr. PAYNTER: There are many cases like that?-- It is the fault of the man. We give him the money and we say it is enough for the work. We cannot possibly watch each individual man. If we offered 30s. an acre it would not be enough in some cases. I remember that Mr. Pat. Stone wanted to be made an agent for clearing on behalf of the bank. He came to see me and I asked him what he thought a certain patch of salmon gum forest could be cleared for. This was in the earlier days. He said he did not think it could be done for less than £8 an acre, and I said "You would make a lovely inspector." The bigger the area to clear, the better it is.

8636. Settlers have represented to us that it is obligatory on their part to fence in their boundaries only, and that in many cases that was a hardship?-- In some cases it is, and in some it is not. Nine-tenths of it is done by the bank.

8637. I can give you a specific case. A man at Kukerin with a block of 1,000 acres cleared 500 acres of good land fit to carry stock, and if he could have got the bank's permission to fence off the good land he would have been in a position to carry stock. The bank's decision was that it only advanced money for the purpose of fencing boundaries, and this man pointed out that the fencing of boundaries in his case would be useless?-- If you give me the man's name I can inquire into the case.

8638. We are not suggesting that the man's statement was correct or otherwise; I am just asking whether that is the practice?-- In some case I have no doubt we have enforced boundary fencing. When Sir John Forrest was my Minister he went away and telegraphed to Mr. Burt from Tasmania to tell me that I must have all boundaries fenced. That was soon after the bank was first started, and the decision has never been rescinded.

8639. Is that still the declared policy of the bank?-- In many cases at the present time we do not fence.

8640. Do you not think that policy was a great mistake?-- Of course I do; it said at once that we would have to find stock.

8641. Can you give us the number of foreclosed properties the bank has on its hands at the present time?-- Those are abandoned mostly. Many of the holders have gone to the Front, and many of them got on to bad country.

8642. Can you give us any reason why the bank should have advanced money on bad country?-- Only that it was a mistake arising out of inspector's reports. A lot of country down at Ongerup will not grow anything at all, and still it is classified as first class. If an area is thrown open and prices are fixed, I am supposed to regard it as wheat country, and it is only after occupation for several years that it is possible to find out that it will not grow wheat.

8643. What sort of country is it at Ongerup?-- It is low mallee and poor. Moort country is good. There is a stunted tree that I do not know the name of; it grows to the north-east of the rabbit-proof fence. It looks all right, but the land on which it grows has never been tested.

8644. What is the principal sum in arrears in respect of your advances?-- The interest is £163,115 17s. 8d. Of that amount £50,000 will be paid at once. We have only written off £2,364. We hold those properties.

8645. What provision has the bank for bad or doubtful accounts; is there any reserve fund?-- We could not do anything in that direction even if we wanted to do so, because the labour is not there. We give a man full value and £150 for machinery, and at the very moment he leaves our security is going.

8646. By Mr. VENN: And the price to any one taking over the property has to go up?-- Of course.

8647. By the CHAIRMAN: Why do you continue making advances of that kind?-- It is the law.

8648. Are you in agreement with that policy?-- Certainly not. They make me responsible of course, and I shall have to stand the brunt of it. But there is the Act. I have had 18 Ministers, and they have all conformed to it.

8649. By Mr. VENN: Did you ever advocate that the Act should be amended?-- Yes, and my last Minister, Mr. Johnson, was in agreement with me that it should be amended. When I asked him why he did not do it, he said he could not because it might lose him votes. I said to him, "you would ruin this country for £300." That is the inference. It is impossible to work under such conditions.

8650. By the CHAIRMAN: How is the bank controlled?-- There are three trustees, and I am the managing trustee. The other two trustees are appointed for two years. I am appointed from day to day. I think that is an awful policy. If they cannot trust the trustees, why not get rid of them? If they can trust them, let them do the work. Mr. Mitchell never interferes. Mr. Johnson did not after a certain time. I allowed him to see everything, and he was soon behind so many files that I could not find him, and he did not interfere any more.

8651. Have the trustees always been free agents in the districts they have selected for Agricultural Bank advances?-- The land is surveyed by the Lands