should be given his poison land, the cost of eradicating being so excessive as to discourage settlement under the present laws. My my father took up Riversdale 12 years ago. I have run that place right through. At first we had 110 men grubbing poison on it and we spent on grubbing at least £2,000 in cash. It would in the interests of the State to give poison free under improvement conditions. One portion of Riversdale, about 9,000 acres, was taken up by the Occidental Syndicate and we purchased it at 9d. per acre and then went on improving it under the old stocking conditions; that is, stocking up after 12 months. This property would never have been taken up if we had not got it at this cheap rate. We purchased other properties at 5d. an acre there, and this encouraged us to go on doing the improvements. Up to the present we have spent £14,700 in hard cash on that one property, that is in ringing, poison grubbing, and scrubbing and subdividing into 33 paddocks. It will easily take a lot more money. That country would never have been taken up had it not been so cheap. It is today an asset to this district and has led to a lot of settlement in that country. In regard to C.P. land I think the State prices are too high. I have just applied for 945 acres adjoining my block. The government want 11s. an acre for it, although it is infested with poison. It has been reduced down from £13s. 6d. to 11s. Of that 945 acres there is not 200 acres clear of poison. It means that we will not touch it at that price. Mr Austin Bastow put £2,000 into Wendouree and went out. Mrs Gully bought it from him, paying £700 deposit. After having the place for two years she threw it on Bastow's hands without paying anything further. I then purchased the whole property with all improvements, including 500 sheep, for £1,800, and Bestow was pleased that i gave him the money at 5 per cent. for as long as I liked.

9842. To Mr VENN: I consider this district produces the finest wool in this lower belt of country. The cross-bred will do better than merino, But the high price of merino wool has been tempting that most of us have gone for merinos. The Riversdale clip averaged 2s. 2½d. per fleece on the appraisement. The average weight of the fleece is 7 lbs. There were no ewes, they were all hoggets. Some of the finest lambs I have seen have been reared in Kojonup on old cultivated blocks. The surrounding country is not yet sufficiently developed for the fat lamb trade. Very little dairying is done in that district, the reason being the want of a butter factory at, say, Katanning. I think the experienced among the settlers in this district are making good. The trouble is shortage if capital. The man on this country has to wait some years for a return. In that respect this district is different from the Eastern belt. We spend a good deal of chaff from here. The Railway Department treats up very unsatisfactorily in regards to trucks and sheets. They have brought in a new regulation for only one sheet to a truck. I will send in from this district this year 360 tons of chaff. Unfortunately, I had an arrangement with the military that thew chaff had to be delivered to sample at the camps. In consequence I have had six tricks turned down out of the last 12 through faulty sheeting. The station-master here admits that the chaff went on the truck in perfect condition, notwithstanding which I lose £80 on those trucks. It is due to the department's regulation providing for only one sheet to the truck. Again, damaged damaged sheets are used a lot, through which I have had a considerable quantity of manure spoiled this year. I must say for the Railway Department that the local officers do their best to get trucks for us. I have not a single compliant against the departmental officials. The sheets come along with the trucks, but only one to each truck. I loaded trucks last week and had to put my own sheets on until the departmental sheets arrived.

9843. To Mr PAYNTER : I would not send a truck of chaff to auction except it were damaged. I sell on truck up to sample. I think the bag system is the best, including bags in the price. I have not bought a bag in years. On selected second-hand bags we do not lose 1 per cent. That is one advantage of selling on the rails at your siding.

9844 To Mr CLARKSON : I think the state would be justified in giving indirect subsidies to assist co-operative butter factories. It is the only way they will get the industry fairly started. I think a butter factory would be a good payable proposition from a butter-fat point of view, particularly if we had a creamery. A man 14 miles from here was sending his butter-fat to Bunbury, but has given it up, the freight being too much. Another man 10 miles out from Kojonup kept going for two years, but unfortunately he died. He had the right stuff, and would have made a success. Given a butter factory at Katanning, all the farmers would kept cows. I have no difficulty in getting 1s. 8d. per lb. for all butter I can make at Katanning.

9845. By Mr CLARKSON : Have you any suggestions to offer for the betterment oh the industry?—The poison question should be gone thoroughly into again with a view to further reducing the price. The reduction from 13s.6d. to 11s. is absurd. The price they are paying on this land is still far to high. Butter factories should be established various points throughout the State. There is at Katanning a co-operative company ready to take up the question when the Government shall be prepared to render assistance over the early stages. The extension of the telephone is of most importance to the farmer. At the same time, the cost of the service is too high

                                                                                      (The witness Retired).  

OBID BIGNELL, of Bignell Bros. Farmers, Kojonup, sworn and examined :

9846. To Mr CLARKSON : I have been 18 years farming here. I have previous experience in Victoria and South Australia. We hold 3,209 acres. of which about 1,000 acres is first class. Originally the whole lot had poison on it. We have cleared 1,400 acres, and we crop 300 acres. I believe in fallow. It does not return better yields than other methods, but it allows us to get the crop in early. We average 1.500 sheep,14 horses , two cows. That is about as much as we can carry. The highest average crop we have had has been 22 bushels of wheat and 30 of oats. The normal average for the