Part 9

Page 661
image 26 of 100

This transcription is complete

MONDAY, 18TH JUNE, 1917. (At Tambellup.)

Present:

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

OWEN SAGGERS, Farmer, Tambellup, sworn and examined:

9784. To Mr. CLARKSON: I am following mixed farming. I have been farming here for 20 years. I had previous experience at Goulbourn Valley, Victoria, for five years. I hold here 1,800 acres, of which 450 is cleared. I have 100 acres in crop and another 130 ready. That is my usual quantity. Fallow is worth five bushels of wheat and 15cwt. of hay more than other methods. I take a crop of wheat from new land, follow it with oats and then fallow. Generally speaking, this is an oat district, thought we have plenty of paddocks returning 20 bushels of wheat. My highest average has been four bags of wheat. I reckon I want four bags at 10s. to hold my own. I employ no labour. The profit comes out of the grazing. I find Federation wheat the best. Some here think Walker's the best. I carry 220 breeding ewes, 60 dry sheep, 15 horses and 15 cattle. Those, with the lambs to come, represent the full carrying capacity of my holding in its present development. I think three acres to the sheep is about the average for the district. Perhaps bulk handling would reduce the costs to the farmer. The bag business is a big problem. After all bulk handling is a question for the experts. I think farming implements should come in free of duty or pay at most a very low duty. I have heard of an offer made to a potential agent in this town. It was to do with an engine which could be landed here at £30. The proposal carried the extraordinary restriction that the engine must not be sold to the farmer at less than £55. Railway freights are unduly high. We have to allow 4d. per bushel on wheat to Perth and £1 5s. on chaff. Nearly all our produce has to go through Perth. Most of the stuff we get comes through Albany. The minimum railway rate on small parcels is extortionate. Albany is run by certain merchants who are not represented here. Generally speaking, we have no difficulty with railway trucks or sheets.

9785. To Mr. PAYNTER: I favour the continuance of the wheat pool. I have received no benefit whatever from the experts or officials of the Agricultural Department. I am interested in dairying. Mr. Connor attended here and gave a lecture. We took him round the district. He asked where I got my Jersey Bull and when he found that I had bought it from Wills & Co., York, he closed right up. At the subsequent lecture the only animal he spoke favourably about was an Ayrshire bull, which he had supplied himself to another man in the district. He is breeding himself at the Brunswick State farm and to my mind the animals he is producing are not the most suitable. They are sending out cross-bred animals, bulls out of grade cows. The Government are making no provision for furnishing cattle under the repatriation scheme. This is a good dariying district. Wherever Algerian oats can be grown, dairying can be carried on. I came here 20 years ago with £25 in my pocket. Nothing will lift this State out of its difficulties so quickly as dairying. At Denmark the clearing is too costly to admit of dairying becoming profitable for many years. Some big estate close to the railway, along this district, would furnish ideal areas for the repatriation of our soldiers. I do not consider out present land laws calculated to encourage land settlement. Poison land should be sold at a nominal state to people prepared to clear it. Again, a longer period should be allowed to lapse before a settler is called upon to begin repaying his obligations to the Agricultural Bank. Five or 10 years exemption would not be too much. I left the Agricultural Bank for a private bank merely that I should not be hurried with the repayments.

9876. By Mr. CLARKSON: Have you anything else to bring before us?—The Government should have two or three competent officers to see that no heifers are put on the market. These officials should buy up the heifers and conserve them on good country with a view to selling them to the settlers later on.

(The witness retired.)

EDWARD PETER HOWARD BIRT, Farmer, Tambellup, sworn and examined:

9787. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have been farming here 14 years. I had previous experience in South Australian and Queensland. I hold 3,500 acres in two different farms. Of that area 1,000 acres is cleared. My crop is principally for sheep feed. I grow about 200 acres every year. The district west of the line is better for oats than for wheat. The whole of my holding was covered with poison. About half of my land is first class. I carry on one farm of 1,400 acres 600 sheep and on the other farm of 2,100 acres I have between 500 and 600 sheep. The average carrying capacity of this district is a sheep to three acres. Rape and other fodder crops are very successful here. I feed my crop to a certain stage and strip and cut the rest. I feed it down