settlers at a charge of 18s. per hour, are not really procurable unless one settler, or a group of settlers, can guarantee an area of 200 or 300 acres within a reasonable radius, to allow for the heavy transport and overhead charges, which, one a smaller area, would be a loss to the Government. The plants, therefore, are not really available to small selectors. It is difficult to suggest any remedy beyond the obvious one that if the plants were stationed permanently at such centres as Brunswick, Donnybrook, Bridgetown, and Denmark, they would be available in the several districts at minimum transport charges to and from jobs. Obviously, again, until some such arrangement is made, such a centre as Denmark can never obtain the assistance of pulling gangs.

GENERAL NOTES ON THE PRINCIPAL INDUSTRIES.

Fruit Culture—The State has approximately 21,692 acres under orchards, of which it is estimated that, owing to lack of knowledge among the growers, or to the neglect of expert advice, quite 25 per cent. have been planted on unsuitable soils or to wrong varieties of trees. These ill-advised plantations will all have to be rooted out as time goes on; the wrong soils must be abandoned, and the useless trees replaced by better varieties. Such errors in practice have not tended to establish confidence in the industry, as the layman habitually confounds the grower who knows his business with the man who does not, and is inclined to look upon the grubbing of orchards as a permanent and not an accidental feature. Again, the marketing facilities, which include the transport and delivery of fruit over the State railways, are capable of great improvement, and no industry can progress while the State neglects to provide the conveniences which it alone can establish, and through which alone the business of the country can be satisfactorily conducted. With 25 per cent. of its orchards a failure, and marketing and handling facilities which are inherently incapable of returning to the grower the value of his product, it could only be expected that fruit culture has be decreasing in popularity, and the area devoted to orchards begins to show a decline. The war, and the stoppage of the apple export trade, have not assisted matters in this connection. Nevertheless, we believe that, given a solution of the labour trouble, the future of the industry is sound, and that the planting of export apples, canning peaches, pears, and oranges upon our best soils under approved methods, is good policy. The local expert evidence we have been able to secure is all confident that, when the man who can only grow 100 cases to the acre on poor wet land has gone out of the business, and his place has been taken by the grower of 200 cases and over on good sound land, there is a very bright future before orchard culture, as our trading facilities are remodelled and enlarged to meet the situation. Growers of the best type, with our climatic advantages, producing a heavy yield per acre, should, we are positively assured, with the return of normal conditions, be able to hold their own in the world's markets. The welfare of the industry can, in our opinion, be greatly assisted by co-operation amongst the growers themselves to promote standard packing, canning, evaporating, and co-operative handling. The growers have already achieved considerable success in this direction. They also have at their service the trading and exporting houses, with the result that the export trade is catered for on better lines than the home trade. The State's assistance should be in the direction of the organisation of fast railway transport, the provision of central distributing markets in Perth, the subsidy of cool storage, and the subsidy on a pound for pound basis of approved plants for canning or evaporating in the fruit growing districts.

Citrus culture.—As with the general fruit grower, the experience is that rather a large proportion of the established orangeries has been planted on unsuitable soil and will, sooner or later, have to be grubbed out. The South-West contains no large area suited to citrus culture, the best soils, which should be deep, rich, friable loams with free drainage and a water table not less than six feet below the surface, and preferably eight to 10 feet, obtaining only in small pockets, but over a very wide area. Our expert advice is that, given such soils to work on, and careful management, our citrus production is capable of great expansion, and with a distinct expectation that future export markets can be found to take the surplus production. Mr. W. Catton Grasby, who was deputed by the South Australian Government to report on fruit-growing methods in Italy and the Levant, is of opinion that considerable area of land in the South-West, unsuited for the growth of oranges, will grow the very best class of lemons. In Sicily he found that lemons were grown up to 3,000 feet above sea level, and the mountain lemons kept the best and fetched the highest prices.

Viticulture.—The progress of viticulture must, we are convinced, go hand in hand with the provision of wineries, of distilleries for second grade or surplus fruit, and of processing plants for handling the dried article. Subsidies to assist such effort should be available wherever the cultivation of grapes and currants is undertaken on a large scale. There are only 3,031 acres under vines in the State, the figures showing a slight increase in the area planted, partly due to the remunerative returns from currants. The production of dried fruits has overtaken the Australian demand, and the amalgamated dried fruits' interests in the Eastern States are utilising large quantities of currants and grapes for the production of spirits by distillation. The Dried Fruits Trust also exports a portion of the surplus dried fruit at a loss to preserve a profitable home trade. We understand that local growers have been invited to join the Australasian organisation, failing which the Eastern growers can dump on this market at any moment. This can only result in very much lower prices, which would have a prejudicial and, perhaps, a ruinous effect on the local industry.

Jam Manufacture and Canning.—This is an intricate and technical business which can only grow slowly and on sound lines. The State should be prepared to subsidise on a pound for pound basis wherever co-operative or proprietary companies are willing to take up the business. At present the competition of the Eastern States is a severe handicap to local makers in catering for the local market.