Part 9

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This transcription is complete

year have been ploughed twice and cultivated three times, and it remains to be seen whether I will get an increased return. I have decided that in future I will not fallow my old fields, which have been well treated with super and farmyard manure. During the past two seasons, using the early maturing varieties, I have had best results from ploughed-up ground.

10129. What amount of seed and super do you favour?- I have sown thicker this year than before. I did that for two reasons: firstly, because I thought the season was going to be wet and cold, and secondly, because I got the best results in the past couple of years from thicker sowing. This year it will work out at an equivalent of 70lbs. of pickled seed to acre. The pickled seed contains 7lbs. of moisture when sown for wheat. For hay I sow as high as 95lbs per acre. In regard to super, I use from 50lbs to 60lbs. on the very rich ground. In the lighter ground I use up to over a hundredweight; in most cases more than what is required for the crop.

10130. Do you favour a judicious selection of wheats which suit the different districts for the purpose of raising the average?- Undoubtedly. It has been conclusively proved that there are certain varieties which grow well in one district and not in another. The there are the rust-resisting wheats which have to be considered in times of continued wet weather. If the present rains continue we may have trouble with Federation.

10131. Generally speaking do you think that the largest machinery that will lend itself to a particular class of land is the proper kind of machinery for a farmer to have?- I think that can be overdone. The larger the machinery, of course the more you can get done with less man power, and that is advantageous. Take a big drill, a 21 or 22 hoe or disc drill. Will that machine stand a strain equal to a 17 drill? You may lessen the cost of putting in, but deprecation may be greater. Still, you can put in a much greater area and that, perhaps, will more than compensate for the loss by reason of deprecation. I have never gone in for big machines. Take ploughing. If you can get a man to take an eight or ten horse team and deal with one eight-furrow plough, the costs would be lower than in the case of a man ploughing with a four-furrow and six horse. I pay my horse and machine men 10s. a day and provide them with cottages. It would not pay me to-day to build for the men places similar to those they already have. The buildings were erected when labour was cheap. My men are probably not as well off to-day as they were 20 years ago, when they were getting only 35s. a week.

10132. Referring to the older established districts. such as Northam, York, Toodyay, and Beverley, do you think the prospects of bacon and butter factories being established there are good?- I would not care to express an opinion, because I know nothing of dairying. I can hardly reconcile the position of New South Wales and parts of Victoria as a dairying country compared to that of the South-East. So far as bacon factories are concerned, there is no reason why we should not have them. In fact, I think their establishment is necessary in the interests of the country. Take the position to-day : we only get 5d. wholesale for our pork The increase in the number of pigs last year was 36,000 or 56 per cent. I have lost on my pig account this year £80, that is, in dealing with several hundreds of them. That loss was sustained after charging up wheat at its market price, and including the cost of labour, etc. I am sending down 40 pigs the week after next, but I do not suppose they will average more than 5d. a pound. The butchers have been doing absolutely what they liked with us, and if we cannot do better than that we are not going to grow any more pigs. I had expected to make £250 from pigs during the lasts 12 months, and I now find that I have lost from £80 to £100. I should not worry about growing pigs if I could be sure of 3s. 6d. or better for my wheat. Professor Lowrie on one occasion remarked "Whenever wheat exceeds 3s. 3d. sell it; do not attempt to convert into pork." Two years ago everybody went in for pigs because the market was good and many thought wheat was going to tumble down. The result was a 56 per cent increase in pigs during last year, and to-day everybody is trying to get out. Probably we shall see a recovery in the price in consequence. I consider this an argument in favour of the establishment of bacon factories.

10133. Should not butter and bacon factories run together; would not the skimmed milk encourage people to go for the pigs?- Yes, there is nothing like skim milk for the pigs. The running of piggeries in conjuction with dairying is a second proposition because the waste from the one is fattening property for the other.

10134. By Mr. VENN: In South Australia where they have fewer sheep and a larger local consumption than have we, they have an export lamb and mutton trade. Do you think that something should be done here by the way of establishing freezing works for fat lambs?- I have been advocating that for years past. We must look for a big fall in the price of sheep. The increase for 1917 will be nearly a million over and above local consumption. I am prepared to state that 1917 will close with nearly 6 ½ million sheep in Western Australia and we are not exporting a carcass. Within two years mutton will virtually be given away in this State if the present increase continues. It is one of the most serious questions we have to deal with in consequence of lack of foresight in neglecting the provision for freezing works for mutton and lamb. For years to come we will get a good price for our wool, but the day of big prices for lambs and wethers is rapidly disappearing. This year we shall be selling fat lambs down to 15s.

10135. By Mr. CLARKSON : Do you think the State would be justified in indirectly subsidising co-operative effort for the establishment of bacon and butter factories?- I think so. If the money is wisely expended there should be very little risk. The money would, I presume, be spent by the co-operators themselves so the security should be perfectly sound.

10136. Do you think the State would be justified in losing a little in the effort by, say, lending the money at less interest than the State was paying for it?- Yes, if these industries would result in great in-direct benefit to the State, and so, if the State lost a few thousand a year in interest, it would be nothing to what the State would gain indirectly.

10137. Would you apply that same principle to the running of the railways as a factor in the development of production in the back country?- I think it would be equitable to do so.