three years. It is , of course, no good putting down a small plot, as sheep would eat it out. It is an excellent feed combined with the natural grass pasture: also it seeds itself. I have put down lucerne also and find this very successful for sheep feeding. Merinos, I find, need a change of pasture. I have tried other plants. Subterranean clover does well. What I aim at is to produce something green for my sheep during the summer months. Catch crops of oats or hay are profitable. Rape, as you know, is also a fine crop to grow for finishing off. After being fed down I find it lives through the summer months, and after the first rains grows quickly. This applies to the more sandy soils. Aphis has been bad in rape crops in this district. A number of people are going in for good quality sheep around here, and the flocks are improving. There is a need, however, for instruction in summer feeding. Then, again, a lot of them overstock. We can breed excellent rams here for the North-West. Breeders in that part of the State take our sheep as soon as they will many of the popular breeds from the eastern States. This type of sheep, of course, is not for the small farmer. It is an occupation that needs close attention and study. The lambing in this district is good, 90 per cent. as a rule. The average carrying capacity of partly improved grazing land here, say ringbark country will carry a sheep to five acres. The cultivated country will carry one sheep to two acres. (The witness retired.) ________________

FRED PIESSE, Katanning, interviewed: 9265. To Mr VENN: You asked me to tell you something about my Riverdale Estate. This comprises 16,000 acres, and has cost us £19,422. Eight thousand acres of this was bought at 7½d. per acre. If we had not been able to buy this, we should not have been able to take up the other 8,000 acres and work it. You understand that this is poison country, and was selected 14 years ago. The 8,000 acres taken up was obtained from the Crown and the biggest portion of it was charged to us at 15s. per acre. We had three months to comply with the conditions, namely, fencing and clearing the poison. I think this latter block which we took up should be reduced in price under the poison clause. We are running 4,000 sheep on this now, and after this year's burn we contend we can carry 6,000 sheep all the year round. Putting it on capitalised value of £32,000, it is paying interest to-day and all working expenses, and this is country that nobody would look at. It is certainly a good class of poison country, with only 2,000 acres of poor land. There are 10,000 acres of excellent country. We only have 70 acres of cleared country on the estate. It has 92 miles of fencing, and is divided into 500 acre paddocks with water in every paddock. The poison is grubbed throughout. You must burn every four years. After burning up we put a lot of sheep on, and they nip the young poison shoots off. This place is being run today with two men, and they are keeping the poison down. Any man who has gone on to the poor poison country should have it, in my opinion, for ten years free of rent. After that time I consider there should be a valuation. There should be an annual inspection to see that the man is doing work on the property. No speculation should be allowed, nor would I allow the man to transfer it for five years after the valuation. I consider no man should have a large area of country unless he is working it and improving it. The man who is not working his country should be taxed heavily. These properties are contributing nothing to the revenue. With regard to the eastern country, these men have planted themselves down on country that is easiest cleared, and have left the best country because it is hard to work. Cultivation will kill the narrow-leaf poison. Ploughing must be done with the mould-board plough, and two good summer cultivations will clear it. We subdivide the poison areas into 200 to 500 acre blocks, and then work the ground. After the ploughing described, get your crop in. This should be oats. A good burn in the resultant stubble will bring the poison right away, and the next cultivation will give you the country free of it. You will understand it is very expensive land to handle, and I think those people we were referring to out east should have a revaluation of all their poison lands.

9266. To Mr PAYNTER: I find two good men can crop 600 acres, 300 in and 300 fallow. To my mind the Agricultural Bank has been entirely wrong in their inspection for loans for clearing. When making these advances they should have known that the light lands are no good as against the heavier. I know of five or six men who have gone to the war who will not come back on to their land. These men failed because they cleared their worst country instead of their best. In regard to wheat growing alone, there certainly are men who are making good. I know of one, for instance, who will not have a sheep on his place, and he is doing well.

   Memo. - Subsequently and during the course of an inspection of Messrs. F.&C. Piesse's grain silos, Mr F. Piesse volunteered this information. For the purpose of wheat, those that yield best, and the most satisfactory manuiral treatment, I have 300 varieties of wheat at my experimental farm. Cedar is a remarkably good milling wheat. In order to encourage the production of this variety, we have guaranteed to thrash for farmers growing it free of cost. In this manner you can say they are paid a bonus of 6d. per bushel. The silos were inspected. These comprise four Iron Tubular Tanks, 60 feet high. The capacity is 105,000 bushels. Ninety-five thousand bags of wheat can be stored on the premises at one time. The silos are 25 feet in diameter and are the largest constructed of iron in Australia. The milling capacity of the plant is 2,400 bushels per day of eight hours. Tests are carried out in the mixture of various wheats to arrive at those samples of floir most suitable for both the export and local trades.

(The witness retired.)

The Commission adjourned.