One of the greatest wants in our agricultural industry is education. The Government are no doubt at the present time doing excellent work through the Agricultural Department in this connection, but the farmers up to the present have not fully availed themselves of the very good information and assistance which they can no doubt get from that department. A very large number of farming clients on our books are men who were not practical farmers to start with. They have had to learn by experience what they should have known when they started their operations. Within the last month I have had an interview with a farmer at Wongan Hills, who told me that he went on to his farm with £3,000 cash, and he said, "If I went on that farm today knowing what I do now, instead of having the whole of that £3,000 invested in my farm and simply represented by improvements and assistance, I could have my farm in exactly the same condition as it is today and have £1,500 cash in my pocket." That was solely due to the fact that he went on that farm without a proper farming experience and knowledge as to how he should conduct the farm.

Anything the government can do to remove that position from people going on to the land will be of great advantage to the industry. Not only will it conserve capital, but it will enable the farmer to have a greater prospect of successfully working his property and securing better results. In that connection I think the Government ought to take very fully into consideration the question of doing more to educate the children in the country on the technical side of farming. From what I can myself gather, the present education in the country does not tend to educate the children in the farming industry. It is more giving them an education fitting them for clerks or other occupations in the city. That is a subject which I think should be very carefully gone into by the Government with a view of seeing if they could alter the curriculum in the country to the advantage of the children in the farming community. If they could give some technical education allied to the farming industry it would certainly give the rising generation in the country far more interest in the farming industry than they can get under the present system of education.

9239. What, in your opinion, are the principal hindrances to agricultural progress in this State?- I think I may say, perhaps repeating myself a little, the chief hindrance to our agricultural progress has been the want of practical knowledge of a large number of the people who have gone on the land. Another principal hindrance has been that all our farming land has to be cleared before it can be profitably worked, which means a fairly heavy capital expenditure which has not had to be expended in a great many of the agricultural districts of the Eastern States. I think if the Government, instead of imposing a tax in the way of rents on the farmer who is going straight on to new land, would give the farmer the land free of all rent and land taxes for a period of anything from five to ten years, tying him down on consideration of that to effect substantial improvements in the way of clearing, fencing, and similar necessary improvements for farming lands. That in itself would be of great assistance to the industry. The initial expense of starting a farm is so heavy that the farmer does not want to think about paying rents . In fact he should be relieved of every possible avenue of expenditure in that direction until he has a producing farm he is in a position to pay for his land.

9240. What is your opinion of the Agricultural Bank and its usefulness to the State?- I think undoubtedly the Agricultural Bank has been a great source of encouragement and assistance to the farming community. My idea is from my experience of the bank that its advances have not been as closely scrutinised as they should have been. They have now inaugurated a system which, if it had been in force at the inception of the bank, would have saved the bank itself and the community generally, a considerable sum of money; but there is no doubt hundreds and hundreds of farmers in this State have been put on their feet and are now in a fairly good working condition entirely through the assistance they have received from the Agricultural Bank, and a number of them were so assisted when it was impossible to get such financial assistance from any other financial institution in the State.

I may say in connection with that matter, I think the advantage which the Agricultural Bank has given for stocking farms with sheep is in their position a very risky business. The average client of the bank does not appear to consider that as regards stock which he receives from the bank on credit, he is in the same position of trust as he is when he gets his stock through an ordinary business channel. From conversation with officers of the bank at times on the question, their results in connection with stock supplied to farming clients have been very unsatisfactory. The security seems to have disappeared in many cases, and it appears to me an institution of that kind is not in a proper position to protect its interests in the matter of stock advances. I may add that nobody appreciates more than I do the necessity of farmers having sheep on their farms as a second string to their bow, and we all know that sheep on a farm are of considerable assistance in keeping the farming lands in proper condition, outside of the question of the profitable side of sheep on a farm.

9241. Do you think the political control of the Agricultural Bank makes for the best results?- My experience in business has been that political control is bad, and often a source of weakness to a business institution. According to my opinion, the ideal mode of management of a bank is by a board independent of all interference, who should be allowed to carry on the business on strictly business lines.

9242. Would you consider the continuity of management under such a board one of the strongest reasons for the establishment of such a board?- It would be a very strong argument in its favour. In a big business concern, like the Agricultural Bank, continuity of management is essential to a profitable and satisfactory conduct of the business.

(The witness retired.)

The Commission adjourned.