TUESDAY, 12TH JUNE, 1917. (At Brookton.) _______________

Present: H. H. Paynter, Esq. (In the Chair). F. E. Venn, Esq. _______________

SAMUEL WILLIAMS, Farmer, Woodbine, Brookton, sworn and examined:

9689. To Mr. PAYNTER: I hold about 3,600 acres, of which 650 is freehold and 720 just about to come into freehold. In all I have 1,000 acres of first class, 1,000 acres of second class and the balance third class. I paid 10s. for the first class and I think 6s. 8d. for the second class, with 5s. 3d. for the third class. I have 2,050 acres cleared. The holding is fully equipped with houses, stabling, and buildings. I keep about 22 horses, 1,000 sheep, a few pigs, and three milking cows. I generally crop 750 to 900 acres. I have 830 acres this year, of which all but 40 acres is fallow. My average yield has been 13 bushels, the highest thing being 24 bushels in, I think, 1891. I did not use super in those days, but I was cropping only the best of the land. To-day I sow 80lbs. of super and about 50 lbs. of wheat according to the quality of the land. I find Marshall's No. 3 the best seed. To make a living a man should have from 1,500 to 2,000 acres of good land in this district. I think the land laws are satisfactory except in regard to poison. I am an advocate of almost giving away the poison land, because it is not an asset until brought under cultivation. The poison is all through this district in patches. There is no York Road within 25 miles west. The box is not so difficult to deal with. The sheep carrying capacity of improved land in this district is one sheep to two acres. There is very little dairying done in the district. I cannot say whether dairying can be carried out successfully here. It requires to be tried on a practical basis. The average marketable value of improved land in this district under normal conditions is from 30s to £2 per acre. I think bulk handling would be a great boon to the farmer. It should effect a very great saving. I favoured the wheat pool in the first place, but I am not sure that I now favour its continuance on the present lines. There is a good deal of difficulty in getting farm labour. I have no complaints against the railway freights. Most of our farmers are doing well. This is a sound mixed farming district. The cost of cropping has been about 32s., but now 20 per cent. requires to be added. The way to assist a lot of farmers west of the Corrigin line is to carry this line through to Armadale from Brookton. The country is well worth opening up. It is already settled. The line would go to the north of the Banister. It would put the people of Kunjin in the same position as we are in to-day. Mr. Wilson has promised it and so too has Mr. Scaddan. Everybody who has looked into the question has agreed that it is an excellent proposition.

(The witness retired.)

THOMAS CHARLES GRAHAM, Farmer, Brookton, sworn and examined:

9690. To Mr. PAYNTER: I have been farming in this district ten years. I hold 1,100 acres, the homestead being freehold. I have 500 acres first class. I am not satisfied with the classification. Mine is all poison. I am charged 10s. and 6s. 8d. I took it up years ago. Some that I acquired ten years ago is nothing but a bed of poison to-day. I have 700 acres cleared and fenced and subdivded. I have a rattletrap house of iron and wood. I have partially built stables. I carry 12 horses. I hire a few sheep and I have four pigs and one cow. I had planned to put in 500 acres, but this year the mortgagee would not allow me to put in more than 350 acres. I have soaks in every paddock, but they run out when a big draw is made on them. I have a good supply of water at 82 feet in a bore. I am six miles from the railway station. I am married and have six in family. We live within two miles of the school. Of my crop I have 140 acres in fallow. I do not believe in fallow in this wet district. It conserves too much moisture. This year the fallow came up a bed of weeds, owing to the seed not germinating last year. I had to plough it over again. I favour running over the ground lightly in summer time to start the weeds, and then turning it down in the proper season. My average yield is 11 bushels. I have here some excerpts from my balance sheet showing what I have produced (document handed in). The highest yield I have had is 12 bushels; that was in 1913. The cost of cropping is about 30s., inclusive. I do my own work except for a man at harvest and a man ploughing. When I started farming there I had no capital. I started on the Agricultural Bank, but I am not on it now. I am on the W.A. Bank. I value my property as a going concern at £3 10s. per acre. I am heavily mortgaged and if I cannot pay interest it means that I go out for £800. I am very sorry I ever went off the Agricultural Bank. I reckon I was led into a trap in changing over to a private bank. I favour the continuation of the wheat pool under the farmers' control. I favour the system of bulk handling. I think the railway freights are satisfactory. The conditions of farming in Western Australia are more costly than in the Eastern States, because our season is so short. A big plant is require to put in a small acreage. That is the biggest drawback in Western Australia. Horses cannot be turned out as they are in the Eastern States. Practically they have to be fed all the year round. I do not seed until the rain falls, and this leaves but a short season.

9691. To Mr. VENN: Poison is a curse all through the Great Southern. I am getting mine under now. I reckon that in another year I could