9640. To Mr. PAYNTER: I am not concerned in the water question, except in regard to the town property. The rates are pretty high, but it has been a great boon to the town. They are charging 1s. 6d. a thousand gallons, which for irrigation is out of the question. In the town the charges are 2s. a thousand and 2s. 6d. for excess. We have 80 acres of orchard, but we are using the water from our pool. The sheep carrying capacity of the land is very uneven. In September and October we carry a sheep to the acre, but that is only in the best period. The improved value of the land is about £3 10s. all round. I am often out through the Bolgart district. The settlers there have had a rough time, owing to the drought and the rust. They have had two bad seasons in five years, but they will recover all right. They have a good district, and a bounteous rainfall.

I do not think the poison out there is much of a menace if they clear the land and plough it up. In point of Government rewards for crows and eaglehawks, I think the farmer himself can cope with the question if he is sufficiently interested. I do not think we are farming properly even in this old district. George Syred, at Bejoording, averaged 33 bushels, due entirely to correct methods on good land. Farmers in this district are in favour of the continuation of the wheat pool. I think the railway freight on benzine, which is used extensively by the farmer, iniquitous. Why should there be such a difference between that and kerosene? The stock rates are pretty satisfactory here.

(The witness retired.)

The Commission adjourned.

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FRIDAY, 8th JUNE, 1917. (At York.)

Present:

B.L. Clarkson, Esq (in the chair). H.H. Paynter, Esq. F.E. Venn, Esq.

WARREN MARWICK, Farmer, York, sworn and examined:

9641. To Mr. PAYNTER: I have been farming all my life. Personally I hold 15,000 or 16,000 acres of freehold. I am manager of Marwick Bros. estate, together with my own. I control about 25,000 acres. About 16,000 is cleared. All is fenced and sub-divided. It is situated at from two miles to 20 miles from a railway. The property is fully equipped. We run from 8,000 to 10,000 sheep, 120 horses, and 200 pigs. Our principal water supply is in permanent surface soaks and springs.We have the rivers Mackey and Mortlock fronting the property.I have a couple of scheme services outside the municipal area. For a service I have to pay £5 and so much per thousand the water. I consider the improved value of our land under normal conditions ranges from £2 10s. to £8 per acre. I strike a balance every year and never put any increment on to my land. The Meadows country close in here we bought 18 years ago, paying £6 and acre for it. The bulk of the land on the Mortlock is situated 12 miles from Meckering and a similar distance from Greenhills, but through want of water supply it is more convenient to cart our produce to York, where we can get better facilities for handling it. Greenhills is very crowded in the busy season.

I crop between 4,000 and 5,000 acres each year, of which a little over two-thirds is fallow. In normal seasons fallow land will give up to 30 percent more than unfallowed. I sow 1¼ bushels of seed and 90 pounds of super., and my average yield in normal seasons is from 12 to 14 bushels. The highest yield in any one year was 16 bushels in 1913. The cost of putting in and taking off, exclusive of interest on the value of the land, I estimate at 21s. 7d. The seed and super fluctuate too much to be included. I have spent 30s. an acre picking up stones. I favour the use of large implements as against small where the conditions of the land permit of it.

I have advocated the introduction of bulk handling for many years from the point of view of both farmer and miller. I have considered the question of tariff. I always buy Australian made machinery. I bought the first Martin harvester sold in Western Australia. It was a failure. I bought three Massey harvesters, then I bought three Nicholson Morrow Australian made, but after Federation I found that the duty on duplicate parts of the American machine carried 30 percent. This in a few years more than made up the difference between the prime cost of the machines, so I dropped the American and went for the Sunshine machines. I have ten Sunshine harvesters to-day. We cannot get enough labour. I have had to dispose of horses at any price, being unable to work them.Since war broke out the best of my young fellows enlisted, and today the labour difficulty is acute. Under present conditions the farming industry is scarcely an attractive field for the investment of capital. If we could get labour we could grow wheat at the guaranteed price.

9642. To Mr. VENN: The carrying capacity of