Part 8

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persons who have been brought to this State. It seems unfortunate that quite a number of English settlers have come here with the delusion that such promises are a conditional undertaking given by a Government and that they will be honoured. These have not been honoured in many instances, and these English settlers think they have been misled. In Australia we may not attach so much importance to these statements?-- I do not know about the promises having been made. Promises are made by Ministers to groups of individuals, but they are not binding on succeeding Governments, nor are records of the promises kept. We cannot prevent Ministers making these promises. We are frequently accused of making promises when no promise has been made at all. If I make a subdivision and show a proposed drain on the map with a view to draining that area at some future time, after people have selected the ground, they make the statement that the Government are going to drain the area, as a drain is shown on the plan, whereas there has been no such intention.

9216. Here is a plan which an English settler obtained and which shows a railway line from Yilliminning to Wickepin and on to Kurrentkutten. He took that line as final and he now thinks there has been a breach of contract?-- Because the line has been deviated. That may have been because better information was obtained as to the course of the line. I have never seen that plan before and I do not remember having seen a plan put out like that. The line has been constructed, but it has been deviated, and I know there was some outcry about it. I do not remember another case where a line like that has been shown. In such a case I think it was an absolute pledge.

9217. The deplorable part of this matter was that the man came here with £1,000 and thinks there has been a breach of contract. Naturally his description of the treatment he has met with here has gone to his friends at home and tends to prevent the influx of population which we so much need?-- There is shown on the plan an extension of the Merredin line, that is an authorised line, but the Advisory Board has not advised that it should be constructed as an early undertaking. We have many authorised lines. There is one from Busselton to Margaret River which has been authorised for years. I do not know when it will be constructed.

9218. It would be better that these lines should not be shown until constructed?-- Or until the money is voted. Then it is practically an assured thing. But if the money is placed on the Loan Estimates it may be diverted. I think it would be safer to put the line on the plan when it is constructed.

9219. Is your department surveying any more wheat land at present?-- An area of between 40,000 and 50,000 acres at Lake Grace designed specially for returned soldiers.

9220. Do you know what the rainfall is there?-- According to our figures, upwards of 12 inches.

9221. Is that the only land being surveyed for wheat land now?-- that is the only area surveyed within the wheat belt. A few areas which are selected from time to time are surveyed.

9222. In cutting up lands for wheat selection, what area of good land does your department aim to include in each block?-- In cutting up 1,000 acre blocks, we aim at getting one-half as being the minimum that is first class land. We cannot ensure getting one-half. Sometimes we get much more and at other times considerably less. I do not say we have always obtained what we aimed at, because we have had surveyors with little experience, who are anxious to obtain work, who have surveyed areas that do not meet the wishes of the department, but, generally speaking, that is what we aim at, to provide 500 acres of first class land. That is, where we subdivide before selection.

9223. In cutting up blocks, such as the area east of Lake Grace now being undertaken, do you aim at making the blocks 1,000 acres, or do you make them larger if it runs into poorer country?-- If it runs into poor country we make it larger, unless for this reason: when we are connecting up two blocks if another additional survey may extend it to 7,300 or 1,400 or 1,500 acres; but we may exclude the poor land. It is no use having land of no value. We do not want to enclose too much poor land because we are bound by the minimum of price.

9224. What is the minimum price now?-- Three shillings and ninepence per acre. that is for the whole block excepting in cases of poison infested or wodjil infested land, then the price is 1s.

(The witness retired.) _________________

JOHN WAUGH PATERSON, Professor of Agriculture, University, sworn and examined:

9225. By the CHAIRMAN: We are considering at present almost entirely the eastern wheat belt in this country in respect of which the Government have asked us to furnish them with an interim report as soon as possible, and we are now considering the last matters to look into before doing so. We have asked you to call so that you might address us on any matter of interest from your point of view, as you think fit?-- I visited all the important districts in the State in connection with University Extension Lectures, and I have often been told by some of the best farmers that wheat growing alone did not pay, and if that is so, when the land is comparatively new and in its virgin condition, then one would expect that when the land has been longer under cultivation and getting more or less run down, wheat growing alone would be still more unprofitable. My own impression has been that sheep must ultimately find a place in wheat farming. The difficulty here is that if a farm has to carry a sufficient number of sheep to take advantage of the green feed while it is there that it will probably be necessary to hand-feed sheep out in those dry districts for the three leans months of the year, say, from March to May, inclusive. I think that the question of how best sheep could be carried over and, if necessary, hand-fed during those three months, and the cost of such carrying over, form perhaps the keystone of the problem, so far as wheat growing is concerned. One thing hangs on another. Unless sheep can be carried over those months in sufficient numbers, there will not be sufficient stock to take advantage of the feed when it is plentiful. Consequently not enough sheep will be carried, and if wheat growing without sheep will not pay, as I think it will not pay, then agriculture in the wheat belt would ultimately be a failure. The carrying over of sheep then by hand-feeding, if