necessary, is an extremely important problem. In travelling up and down over the eastern wheat belt I have often thought that in the past the Lands Department have erred in throwing open lands for selection indiscriminately, as I think the best lands only should be open for settlement. The poor lands would come later in my opinion, an opinion which has recently been confirmed by the public statement of the Minister for Lands. The actual prices obtained from settlers for Crown lands are of far less importance than the placing of successful settlers on the land. The official prices of Crown lands in the past have also been disproportionate to the quality of the lands insofar as good lands have always been the cheapest. Suppose, for example, better lands are valued at 30s. per acre, under a better rainfall, and the inferior lands are valued at 10s., the difference in the first crop may easily efface the difference in price. Some attention should be given to the pathological state of agriculture by the Government. I mean those departments relating to insect and fungus pests, and this applies to all parts of the State, including the fruit growing districts. The amount now spent by the Government on these subjects is ridiculously small in proportion to their importance. Much good work has been done for Farmers in the eastern agricultural areas by the work of the Commissioner for the Wheat Belt, whose knowledge of wheat varieties is exceptionally good and who has the confidence of the farmers. A good deal has been said about the advantages of making soil surveys, but the advantages promised are frequently over - estimated by those who have only partial information on the subject. I do not think, however, that a collation of information by districts in regard to rainfall, their adaptability, yield of suitable crops, cost of transport work to the nearest seaport. etc., would be of assistance to intending land settlers in the future. We should frequently realise, and I think the Lands Department are now realising, that it is no advantage to place our settler on land unless his prospects are good. Agriculture in the wheat areas has its technical difficulties, and to meet those, systematic research and organised system of agricultural education will eventually be found necessary. I am working now upon a scheme for the co -ordination of agricultural education in this State and some progress has already been made in this direction. It is admitted by the Germans themselves that their ability to avoid famine at the present time is due to their system of agricultural education developed during the last 30 years. The agricultural colleges in America - 69 of them - posses a total property of £32,082,000 sterling, and their annual income is nearly seven millions sterling. If farming is not an intelligent occupation, and requires only rule of thumb methods, then agricultural education will not be wanted in this State. The advisory Council of Science and Industry has been appointed by the federal Government to apply the science to industries, and it is expected that the primary industries will also receive attention. As chairman of the W. A. Advisory Council of Science and Industry Committee, I have been doing my best to obtain recognition for the claims of this State, but unless the State authorities co - operate in advancing agricultural education with State funds and agricultural research, not much can be expected from the Federal Government. Agriculture in the wheat belt has its technical difficulties. It has also economic difficulties. I am convinced that the export trade is very seriously handicapped by the low purchasing power of the sovereign, but here we are up against conditions which are political rather than technical, and I do not want to deal with them.

9226. You prefer, evidently, to eschew politics ? - It is not a very profitable game. It might be better if we had less of it.

9227. In your remarks you speak of so many farmers telling you that wheat farming would not pay alone. Have had means of checking these statements with actual results ? - No, I have not. When, in making this somewhat hurried statement, I referred to this, I particularly mentioned that many good farmers had told me that. If poor farmers had told me I would not have paid attention, but some of the men who told me I consider some of the best farmers in the eastern wheat belt, and when they make statements of that kind one is compelled to give them serious attention.

9228. Would you be surprised to know that we have come across good farmers who have shown us excellent results from wheat farming alone ? - No, I would not be surprised if made by individual farmers who, for the time being, were finding wheat growing by itself profitable, but we have got to look at the average farmer, I think, rather than the man who perhaps holds an exceptional piece of ground and gets good results.

9229. Have you had an opportunity of comparing the class of settler in this State with the settler in the Wimmera of Victoria or the mallee country in South Australia ? - I have formed the opinion that the settlers here are for the most part excellent material, but they are more lacking in experience than the farmers in the Wimmera of Victoria, which has been settled for a long time.

9230. It would perhaps be difficult to expect that a number of inexperienced men here would, until they learn to be thoroughly effective and economical in their methods, make wheat growing, which is a strenuous occupation, successful ? - This leads to a negative line of argument, insofar as, if a man has failed through lack of experience, that may have been only one feature ; it does not mean that where an experience man would have been successful.

9231. Perhaps not always. I suppose you expect a community of experienced men would be more successful than community of inexperienced men ? - Certainly I would. I should like to draw your attention formally to an article I have here on land Settlement and the Provision of Credit in Western Australia, written at the request of the late Minister for lands, published in the International Review of Economics. I refer to this because it contains the statistical data on farming in this State. One feature I would particularly draw your attention to, and that is Table 7 on page 83, which deals with the Government advances, and although Government advances were not made on every holding in this State, but assuming that for a moment, we find that in New South Wales the figure is £24.8 per holding, Victoria £22.6 per holding, South Australia £59.2 per holding, West Australia £149.3 per holding, and Tasmania £2.8. The argument from that statement is that in Western Australia the Government have gone very much further than any other State in assisting the settlers.

                                             ( The witness retired. )