at unattested sidings agents receive freights on behalf of the department? —At present if any sender wishes to pay the freight at an unattended siding, he pays it to the guard who lifts the stuff. From here to unattended sidings the freight must be prepaid. The appointment of agents to policy for the Commissioner. If a parcel is lifted from an unattended siding it goes at the prepaid rate to its destination.

10068. From knowledge of country sidings, is there accommodation for twice the quantity of wheat that is at present stacked there, that is if the wheat is not lifted this year?—There should be no trouble for want of accommodation. The returns I get generally show that the agents who have leased the land are reducing their area.

10069. Is there any matter you would like to bring under our notice?—In regard to the delivery of perishable traffic our usual routine for the delivery is to set aside anything which stands in the way. When the perishable traffic is lifted on the trolley it is wheeled out of the shed without los of time and not even sighed for, so as to prevent delay. We do not ask them to give us their advice notes bot render every facility we can so as not be delayed in the least.

10070. By Mr. PEYNTER: What is the system under which you adopt that. Have they a ledger account?—Yes. In anything that will hamper the agents is eliminated.

10071. In regard to ledger accounts, do they pay up regularly?—Yes. In regard to unloading and delivery where the consignment are counted we allow 1s. a ton and we lose on that charge; with the facility we have it does not pay us. We have no complaints.

10072. In regard to the new sheds, do you think the 1s. will pay you?—I do not think it can be enforced under the new sheds. If the goods are consigned in track lots the Is a ton is avoided, because they can sign in quantity, but where we count at either end the Railway Department are responsible for the specified number.

10073.As to the responsibility for the glut at Christmas time, you refute that?—Yes. (The witness retired) WILLIAM NOAH HEDGES, 39 St. George's-terrace, Perth, sworn and examined:

10074. By Mr. CLARKSON: How long have you been engaged in farming in this State?—I applied for the country I hold in 1909 and started dam sinking the following year. I was taught how to do everything in connection with farming in Kent, England, and there is nothing about the place I cannot do myself.

10075. Is cereal growing, by itself, a profitable occupation?—If it is desired to make it a success, the first thing to do is to give facilities for transit. Against all that may be said about a farmer being able to cart his wheat 15 miles, I claim that sometimes the distance has nothing to do with the matter, and that it is a question of the sort of road over which the carting to the station has to be done. Under the best conditions a man should be able to go to the station and back with a load in the one day. If he cannot do that , it probably means that he can only make two trips a. week. If a man has 300 acres of land and grows five bags to the acre, and gets 1,500 bags, and is doing all his work himself, it means that he has to put in 10 or 12 weeks in carting to the station at a time when he should be preparing his land for next year.

10076. I take it that you are running your place with a manager?—Not now; I have got out of that. I found it impossible, where we have sheep and stock, and so on, to get a man who can also run the agricultural part. We therefore put a man over the agricultural and another over the stock. These might be called leading workers.

10077.I take it that, as a business man, you would keep a more strict account of the details of wheat growing than the ordinary farmer?—We try to do so, but this year I have not the analysis made up.

10078. Are you prepared to say whether wheat growing alone is an occupation which can be profitably followed under existing circumstances?—Every man should have sheep and other stock with wheat growing. Sheep help to clear up the land, and get rid of weeds in the fallow, and to clear up the stubble. We hear that there has been a shortage in wheat over what was supposed for by what is left on the ground. In my opinion there is at least an average of three bushels left on the ground this year right throughout the State. We have one paddock at Koolberrin upon which there is a remarkable self-sown crop. Mr. Leslie, in writing to me ,said that this self- sown is looking splendid. this was on the 2nd July. I watched the machines at work on this paddock, and we used both the Sunshine and Reaper threshers. After 1,400 ewes had been in the paddock for 12 weeks following the harvesting and 900 or more weaners for months afterwards, we have still had to leave that paddock this year because the self-sown is so strong. I have given to the minister for Works particulars of Californian harvester which loses no grain at all. It cuts close to the ground, threshes the grain on the machines, bags the grain on the machines, and takes an 18ft to 24ft. cut. I understand that this machine is still further improved on what it was when I visited California. We are dependent on adhesion to the ground to get power for our machine. If we strike a hole in the ground, or a stump, the whole of the working gear of our machine receives a shock and the grain is shaken off the riddles. Again, If you come to a thick part of the crop, still being dependent on adhesion to the ground for power, the hoses are steadied up and machinery goes slower instead of faster. The Californian machines were dependent on adhesion to ground for their power. They then put a petrol engine on the front so the tractive power could still continue at the same pace, and so that the threshing power could be speeded up. In California they cut very close to the ground and not in the way that we do .Their machines are made to deal always with a down crop, for on those big areas of country the crops most frequently go down. The latest machine has a caterpillar frame, and only one engine does the lot, and this can be speed up when a thicker crop is encountered. The machine has combs running out to a width of 24 feet. They do the bagging on the