the fallow clean. Last year I was on the Talbot and got 15 bushels an acre which paid handsomely. I used from 70 to 90 lbs. of super.

9668. To Mr. VENN: I think this district favourable to dairying. Where I came from in the old country the average rent for a cow was £12 per annum. Such a cow would give nine pounds of butter a week. The great drawback here is the cost of labour. The dry spell could be got over by feeding with bran, chaff, and crushed oats. The best way to encourage the agricultural industry is to prevent the acquisition of large estates. Any man can make a good living on a square mile of country if it be well farmed. All the big estates should be cut up into areas of 640 acres. The great difficulty is the want of practical men to go on the land.

(The witness retired.)

JOHN CAMPBELL MacLACHLAN, Farmer, York, sworn and examined:

9669. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have been 17 years on the land here. I hold 66 acres near the town and a farm of 310 acres of first class land 11 miles out. I have worked the 66 acres for 17 years, but not cropping it continuously. Some years we have had it fallowed. The stuff I have grown on that area I have put into stock which I have been fattening. Just now it is not profitable, but in the past I have made a living out of it. In addition I have been buying sheep skins and wool. I could have made a living off the 66 acres by going for dairying. I have not made an estimate of the return per acre I got by putting it into stock.

9670. To Mr. VENN: I am keeping three cows. Certainly this is a dairying district. We could dairy six months on the natural grasses and feed the rest of the time. We grow oats to perfection, and all we require is bran. My cows give only eight pounds of butter per week, but there are in the district cows giving 14 pounds. The natural grasses here are greatly superior to those of the South-West. The establishment of a butter factory at Northam would be a good thing for this district. Also we want a bacon factory; we could easily get sufficient pigs to warrant the starting of a factory. We require canning works or a jam factory. Our peaches are eminently suited to canning. A great deal of excellent stone fruit is grown in the district.

9671. To Mr. CLARKSON: The establishment of a butter factory would do much to encourage dairying in this district. At present we send our butter to the storekeepers, and the grade not being uniform, we do not get a satisfactory price for it.

(The witness retired.)

CHARLES ALFRED HARVEY, Miller and Farmer, York, sworn and examined:

9672. To Mr. CLARKSON: I hold 1,000 acres of land at York, and I have an interest in 3,000 acres on the Brookton-Kunjin line. This year I have in 300 acres of crop at York and 550 on the Brookton property. The average cost of putting in and taking off is 30s. Wheat growing alone cannot be made to pay at anything under 4s. a bushel, with an average of 12 bushels. The wheat pool should be continued. It could be more judiciously managed than it is at present, but those in authority have had to break new ground.

9673. To. Mr. PAYNTER: I have not cured any bacon for the last 10 years. It was not profitable when I dropped it. The time is barely ripe for the establishment of bacon factories on anything like an extensive scale. Fair money could be made by dairying in the winter time, but taken all the year round it would be risky as yet. We should first have creameries in order to have the by-products for the young pigs. Then pig rearing would become more profitable than it is to-day and we would have a better supply. That is the history of the industry in the Eastern States. As soo nas we get a supply of milk, bacon factories will follow. Cows could be carried from November to June on offal, the price of which is now much lower than previously. Small crops of fodder might be grown in summer. In this district I have seen lucerne cut four and five times. Still, irrigation could not be profitably carried out at 2s. 6d. for water. Possibly it could be done if water were 1s. a thousand.

9674. By Mr. CLARKSON: Have you any suggestions as to what the State might legitimately do for the betterment of the farming industry and the furtherance of land settlement?—I think if a small creamery were erected many people would go in for more cows and the cream could be sent on to a centre where a butter factory existed. I would not suggest a butter factory at present because it would not pay, although I think a creamery would pay well. In South Australia, I have known people send their cream 200 miles. I think the people could easily be educated up to doing their own separating. The people close around town could run their milk into the creamery and take the by-product back. I should like to see the Government place in these districts a few more pedigree bulls at a nominal fee. One trouble with the people here is that they look too impatiently for profit and will not stick to one line of stock. The cheapening of offal will do a lot for dairying. One difficulty that will have to be overcome is the cost of labour. I would like to see more fully advertised the results of experiments on our State farms such as the wheats best adapted to certain districts and for milling. We have an able man in Mr. Sutton, yet the farmers know very little about the selection of wheat. The Agricultural Department should let the farmers know the quality of the wheat they are growing and its market value. The mills pay 6d. per bushel more for Comeback, and I think they would still continue to pay extra for it even if more of it were grown. It is a high-grade wheat preferred by all the millers not only in this State but outside. The Bunyip is good but it is of no use sowing it early in the season and letting it run away.

(The witness retired.)

The Commission adjourned.