Part 9

Page 645
image 10 of 100

This transcription is complete

run sheep over the whole of my land. If one has poison country one must get sufficient money to clear it, and keep cropping it for three or four years. Once it has been got down and sheep put over it, it is all right. I have only box poison. I think the principal drawback the farmer is suffering from is the tariff. It has enabled the people living in the towns to inflate their prices. I do not mind protection as protection, but I object to the exploitation of the primary industries for the advantage of the secondary industries. I think the State should over the supply of duplicate machinery parts. Here is a bearing which cost me 7s. 9d. (sample produced). The real value is about 1s. 6d. The State might do something more in the direction of financing farmers. I have to pay nine per cent. interest in consequence of the drought. Also I have to pay to a private mortgagee eight per cent. for the money I used putting in the crop, and £8 6s. for the drawing up of a bill of sale. I think there should be legislation to stop such robbery. I cannot produce wheat to pay such exorbitant prices. I do not think private people should be allowed to lend on land. It should be a national enterprise through a State bank.

(The witness retired.)

ROBERT LINDSAY SAMUEL CRAWFORD, Farmer, Brookton, sworn and examined:

9692. To Mr. PAYNTER: I have been farming in this district 27 years. With my son I hold 6,600 acres, of which about 1,000 acres are freehold, the balance being C.P. About 3,500 acres are cleared; all is fenced. My dwelling is 3 1/2 miles from a railway. I have a good permanent water supply. The property is full equipped with house, stables, sheds, etc. I run 30 horses, 3,000 sheep, half a dozen pigs, and three cows. I crop 1,100 or 1,200 acres, but this year it will be less owing to lack of labour. I have 700 acres in crop this year, of which 550 is fallow. After 27 years' experience I am decidedly in favour of fallow in this district. On the whole fallow is worth three bushels more than unfallowed land. My average yield is 15 bushels; the highest being between 19 and 20 bushels. in 1913. I sow three-quarters of a bushel of speed in the early part of the season, and later up to a bushel or, for hay, 1 1/4 bushels, and 90 lbs. of super. Cropping costs about 30s. Wheat growing alone is not payable in this district. I favour the continuation of the wheat pool during war time, but not afterwards. I have not fully considered the question of bulk handling. Bagging the crop is very expensive. The average value of my improved land in normal years is about £4 per acre. I think our present land laws satisfactory, particularly since the policy in regard to poison lands has been liberalised. I think the railway rates excessive.

9693. To Mr. VENN: Practically no dairying is done in this district. I would not call this a dairying district, though it might be attempted if we could get reasonably cheap labour. I have had practical experience of dairying in South Australia. I am afraid a good number of new settlers in this district are not holding their own; they are buying their experience. In most instances it is not the fault of the land. Generally speaking this is a safe district. Stock of all classes, especially sheep, do well here. Wheat bags are very dear and are of poor quality, particularly in respect of the stitching. In this district we require better transit facilities. Some farmers are over 30 miles from a railway, and, in consequence, a number of farmers have been abandoned. The Government repurchased the Jelkobin estate out here six years ago, and to-day I do not think there is anyone but a caretaker on the place. In consequence of these abandoned farms, certain other farmers are acquiring larger areas than is good for the country. I am in favour of rates and taxes being raised on the zone system. My land being close in, I hold that I should be called upon to pay more than a man whose holding is far from the railway. If the Government could finance the small man in the acquirement of sheep, it would be of benefit to the country at large. Let the Government assist a man to clear a small area and stock it, and the general results will be better than are obtained by helping a man to clear an enormous area and crop it without stock. A man should have no less than 300 acres cleared for a start.

(The witness retired.)

9694. To Mr. PAYNTER: I have been farming all my life, and ten years in this district. I hold 1,800 acres, of which 400 is freehold, the balance being C.P. I have also a lease of 1,200 acres. I have 1,200 acres here at Brookton. I have a permanent water supply, suitable housing accommodation, stables, and machinery shed. I run 30 horses, of which I work 12. I have 2,000 sheep, 30 pigs, 20 head of cattle. I cropped last year 600 acres. My average yield is 16 bushels. The highest average I have had was 22 bushels in, I think, 1908, when I got 5s. 4d. for the wheat. Last year I got 32 bushels in one paddock. The cost of cropping 32s. I look to have 300 acres fallow. I get a better result from heavy land ploughed up than I get from inferior land in fallow, and I get three times the feed. The pre-war value of land around here was about £3. I have refused £5 an acre for my place. I favour the continuation of the wheat pool. As chairman of the Farmers and Settlers Association, I am in favour of bulk handling. I think the Government values of land far from a railway altogether too high. There should be some distinction in price between good land and poor land. Most of the farmers around here are in a good way. The district is very sound.

9695. To Mr. VENN: Many fat lambs are raised in this district. There is a good deal of feeding on the crops done. A little dairying is carried out here. I think that eventually this will be a good dairying district. I milk three or four cows, and I am sure there is more in it than in growing wheat. I have had experience of dairying in the south-west. Our cows here from now till December will milk far better than the cows in the south-west. They do remarkably well on the self-sown oat crops. We turn in our cattle on the crops, and give them a little chaff when milking. I think it would be a good policy if more farmers carried cows. Very many of them have none. The farmers are rearing their own horses. It is only fair horse country. The sheep carrying capacity of improved land in this district is about two sheep to three acres. All farmers should have stock, sheep,