the Railway Department and £1 in fees. I got £4 out of £8. If the same figures applied to wool I would have to relinquish sheep farming. All these small goods should be put on the cheapest possible freight. It is impracticable to send eggs any distance on the railway, for freight and charges amount to one-third of their total value. It would be legitimate for the State to render assistance to co-operative effort for the establishment of butter and bacon factories. Cream could be sent free over the railways to the factory in louvred vans. Having built the railways we should make the greatest possible use of them. Freight is too high on all small produce. Railway freights are killing the farming industry. Why insist upon making the railways pay at the cost of killing the country?

(The witness retired.)

GEORGE PERKINS, Kojonup, sworn and examined:

9866. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have been here on the land 10 years. I hold, with my brothers, 3,800 acres, all of which has had poison. We now have stock running over the whole. One paddock of 335 acres cost £108 to crop the first time. We have 800 acres cleared for cultivation. Last year we had 450 in crop. This year we are trying to get in just over 300 acres. I found fallow no better for wheat unless it be a dry season. We have found that cereal growing alone is not profitable. It must be run in conjunction with sheep. We are running 740 sheep, 16 horses, six cattle, and two pigs. Our carrying capacity is three or four acres to the sheep. I think bulk handling would reduce the farming costs. Farming implements should come in free of duty, seeing that we have to sell our produce in the markets of the world.

9867. To Mr. PAYTNER: I favour the continuance of the wheat pool. The land laws are satisfactory although the prices of land are in some instances too high. I have not yet applied for a reduction in the price of our land.

9868. To Mr. VENN: Our sheep cut about 4lbs. of wool per head. Last year I got 1s. 6d. locally. The lamb clip was sold at 1s. this year before the appraisement came in. But for the sheep we would have been in a very different position. When I landed in Western Australia from England 10 years ago, we had £ 105 between 10 of us. I am a hand-sewn boot maker by trade. My brothers and I tossed a coin to decide whether we should go to New Zealand or come here. I worked at the boot trade at Katanning for 11 months the I went bark stripping; afterwards I was also contact road making.

9869. By Mr. CLARKSON: Have you any other matters to bring before us?— I have no complaint to make against railway officials. They do their best for us, but we have great difficulty in getting sheets. In March last I had three trucks loaded and another partly loaded, but could not get sheets. The rain came and I had to unload five tons which went on to Perth arrived in damaged condition. I lost about 10s. a ton on it. In April I was served in a similar fashion owing to the want of sheets. Ten sheets came along two days after my stuff was spoiled.

(The witness retired.)

CHARLES KNOX ROSS, Farmer, Kojonup, sworn and examined:

9870. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have been here nearly nine years. I had previous experience with stock and station interests in Victoria and two years on a sheep station in New South Wales. I hold 3,700 acres, all of which has had poison on it, 1,700 acres being bad. The cost of eradication poison to such an extent as to be able to run stock on it would represent 3s. an acre in the first place, and I have to go over it every year, sometimes twice. It costs me about £5 per annum to go over the 1,700 acres. I have 400 acres cleared for cultivation. Oats do better than wheat in this district. I do not go in for cropping. I put in about 200 acres and the stock eat it. I shear 2,000 sheep every year. It is about as much as my land will carry. I have 25 horses, but all are fed all the time. I have three or four cattle.

9871. To Mr. PAYTNER: I do not consider the present land laws calculated to encourage settlement. The price of land in this district is much too high. The price of land in this district is much too high. Some of our land is not worth 6d., yet the lowest price of my land was 3s. 9d.

9872. To Mr VENN: An amendment of the Poison Act should be a boon to the district. The district is not good for dairying; I should say I had eight years' experience in Warrnambool, Victoria. This district is not good for wheat either.

9873. To Mr. CLARKSON: In districts suitable for dairying, I think the state would be justified in indirectly subsidising co-operative effort for the establishment of butter and bacon factories. I would apply that principle generally to agriculture. In this connection, I would hold it justifiable to carry cream on the railways at a loss if there was any hope of ultimately making a success of the industry.

9874. By Mr. CLARKSON: Have you any suggestions to make for the betterment of the agricultural industry and the encouragement of land settlement?— I think the railway freight on wool growers are making money. From here to Perth, the freight is roughly £3 8s. per ton. We are 258 miles from Perth by railway and 24 miles less round Bunbury. The Department allow the shorter rate. The chaff rate is 18s. 8d. per ton. We have suffered a lot through losses in chaff owing to want of sheets. I have here a list of losses which I believe to be authentic. The local railway station has a revenue of £5,000 per annum, which does not include the goods which come to the two stores. This I think entitles us to come to the two stores. This I think entitles us to some consideration. For three years we have been trying to get a goods shed and a platform. Wells had 30 tons of chaff damaged out of 100 tons. Cornwall had 50 tons damaged. Hegerty also suffered, Piesse lost £2 a ton on 30 tons of chaff. Perkins suffered considerable loss. The shortage of sheets is not continuous. Again, one sheet is not enough to cover a truck of chaff, it leaves the ends exposed. In a shortage of sheets, sidings on spur lines should have preference over the main lines where trains run so much more frequently.

(The witness retired.)

LYALL EASTMAN, Farmer, Kojonup, sworn and examined: 9875. To Mr CLARKSON: I have been here 10 years, I had previous experience in Geraldton and