GEORGE LOWE SUTTON, Agricultural Commissioner for the Wheat Belt, sworn and examined :

8756. By the CHAIRMAN : How long have you been in the State? - Six years this month.

8757. What were the specific duties for which you were engaged? - The development of the wheat belt. As far as I know no specific duties were laid down. I presume that the duties were those which would be conveyed by the title of the position.

8758. It was left to you to develop along your own lines? - Yes.

8759. Have you been able to carry out these duties to you satisfaction since? - One is never able to do all on wants for various reasons, most of which are unavoidable. No obstacles have been placed in my way as far as I know. One of these unavoidable reasons has been the lack of trained staff. Had a trained staff been available it would have possibly meant the expenditure of more money, and there might have been financial reasons against it.

8760. Do you exercise financial powers in connection with the expenditure of funds? - There is an annual grant towards the development of the wheat belt, which I think is practically under my control. The regulations of the service require that authorisation shall be granted by the Minister for certain large sums over a certain amount, and by the Under Secretary in other cases below that amount. The approval of the Under Secretary is simply a formal matter. If there is a sum of money available from my vote, and I approve of the expenditure, and the Under Secretary objects, my approval would stand, or I would not stand.

8761. What is the annual grant? - It is subject to the vote of Parliament. I do not think it is a fixed sum. I prepare an estimate each year, according to the requirements I feel would be necessary, and the money is voted by Parliament. Sometimes my estimate is cut down, and then to some extent my activities have been lessened. It might be thought that when my estimate is cut down, that this is an obstacle to developmental work, but it is not the main obstacle. The chief obstacle is lack of trained staff, and if I had such a staff, and the money had been cut down, I think I could get an excess. The vote has been excessed this year without difficulty. I simply proceed with the work which, in view of the circumstances obtaining at the time, has seemed advisable to me, and no Minister has as yet raised any objection to that method.

8762. Who carried on your duties as Commissioner of the Wheat Board when you were appointed to various other positions? - Those duties were considered part of the duties of the Commissioner of the Wheat Belt. No one really took on my duties. The other duties simply meant that much work had to be done outside the regulation hours.

8763. Did you find that these other duties interfered with the work of the department, wheat breeding and the supervision of agriculture generally? - Not with the breeding of wheat. Had I possessed a trained staff there need have been no interference with my ordinary duties.

8764. These extra duties must have taken up a portion of your time? - I was not able to devote that amount of time to the farmers which I should otherwise had done. Under a normal set of circumstances I should not have to devote the amount of time to the farmers that I am now devoting. Since the war, and owing to the fact that the men we have had in training have left, a good deal more work has been thrown at me. During the last three months I have been devoting a great deal of time to the detailed work in connection with farms, which, with a proper staff, would have been absolutely unnecessary. The other day at Chapman I spent several days, and since my return I have had to deal with certain phases of the work there which, had the manager not been at the war, would have been unnecessary for me to have dealt with, because after with him he would have attended all those details.

8765. What specific scientific research work has been carried systematically during the last six years? - I think I can best answer that question by showing some samples of wheat ears which have now been fixed as the result of crossing at the Narrogin farm. (Samples put in.) Only two of these samples came from Merredin. At Chapman we have a variety we call Nabawah. I always endeavour to give names taken from the district in which the wheat is grown. This has been grown now for two seasons, and has given us more satisfaction than any other variety. Next year it will be out amongst the farmers in large enough quantities for them to work on.

8766. Do you claim to have successfully crossbred any new varieties of wheat? - Those I have produced are all new. They did not exist last year.

8767. Do you consider they are now fixed? - They are fixed. The matter is beyond the considering stage. They only require to be named, and I do not like to name them until they have been thoroughly tried.

8768. What are the characteristics of any of these wheats that you think will be of value to Western Australia from the agricultural point of view?- We have had in view the object of retaining the yielding quality. To begin with, although we do not expect much in the way of an increase in the yield, I believe we can improve in regard to the Gluyas Early and make it a little earlier and stronger in the straw. We hope to retain the strength of the straw contained in Federation with an improved milling quality. We have one very promising result in this respect. The thing now is to see how the wheat behaves under farmer's conditions. Our object is to maintain the yielding quality, improve the milling value, and ensure the stiffness of the straw. We have now been in apposition for two years to supply pure seed wheat to the farmers from the State farms. That is now on a definite basis. Six years ago I do not think one could get a bushel of pure seed, no matter what one paid for it.

8769. What is the policy of the Department now? - I have a detailed policy in my annual reports. There were no specific instructions as to what my duties were when I came here, and I felt it was desirable to indicate what I thought my policy was in connection with the wheat belt in my reports. I have endeavoured each year to indicate the principal features of the work I have been doing, and if any new policy has cropped up which I thought should be drawn attention to. These reports contain the history of what I have been doing since I arrived in this State. With regard to the policy, when I arrived here first I found that the late director, Professor Lowrie, had recommended that the State farms should be shut down. The continuance of these