Under efficient non-political management, the farm can be utilised to advantage as an adjunctive feature of the Denmark settlement, by continuing the highly successful cultural operations of the manager, and by utilising and improving the butter factory to handle the local cream. Ultimately, a proper Bacon Factory could be added to absorb the local pigs, though, for the present, we have recommended the Government to purchase any pigs produced in the district of bacon sizes and weight, for a fixed term, at 4ds. per lb. live weight —a proposal which, we understand. has been adopted. Additionally , a purebred Jersey herd, and one pure herd of swine could be maintained on the lines as recommended for the Brunswick State Farm

THE SOUTH-WEST AND THE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS. The Department of the Farmers. -It is with pleasure we record the assistance which the department has rendered has the South-West. The fact that Codlin Moth has been successfully held in check in this , alone, of all the Australian States; that the fruit Fly has also been kept well in hand and that the Department is doing good in attempting to keep down the Blow-fly trouble in sheep and the Potato Moth amongst the southern growers' crop, are all distinctly encouraging. We find , also, that a more or less regular supervision of all orchards and market is carried out , and that, generally ,the Department is making a creditable attempt to carry out its duties. There are exception and unsatisfactory features. The Irrigation Expert has been habitually suppressed for years and the State is poorer for costly mistakes which have resulted. We are surprised to find the Commissioner for the wheat Belt apparently acting as Agricultural Commissioner for the whole State. We have previously expressed the opinion that that officer should devote his whole time to the extensive range of duties which the wheat Belt imposes upon him, and we do not consider that the state is benefited by imposing on him the supervision of the south-west . We also draw attention to the very poor remuneration received by the Acting Government Entomologist, who is , under the present absurd arrangement, supposed to deal with all the insect pests of the State without even an office boy to assist him. The Fruit Fly Bait (known as the Newman Bait), which he so practically successful in wiping out this pest and has been of the greatest value to the country . Yet, for this officer's salary and office arrangement should be satisfactorily adjusted forthwith. Little attention appears to have been devoted to such problems as the disposal of second class fruit , the extraction of essential oils, the production of cider, or the manufacture of lemon peels and essences. The lands Department and Poison lands —At Dinninup and Wannamal we again encountered this subject. So far as we can see , the reductions being connected to settlers are frequently ineffective, and there is little hope of any improvement till poison land can be dealt with under the recommendation contained in our previous report. Appeals against the conditions under which poison land are held should always be decided by Appeal Courts, to be appointed by the proposed Board of Agriculture, sitting in country districts, assisted by a local representative who understands the local conditions. Till that is arranged, the position seems hopeless. The treatment of the poison land question is as bad as bad can be. We do not condemn the officials in saying this. The subject is too technical for the Department officer, who cannot be expected to do justice to his department and to the intricate business and practical issues which arise when the question must be settled from a land occupation point of view in its practical aspect. Minimum Area of South-West farms. —we express the opinion that no set acreage can be laid down, owing to the variable nature of the country. The working area should rather be defined by its stock carrying capacity, and each conditional Purchase settler should have sufficient land to run, when improved. 500 sheep or 20cows and their progeny. Survey before selection. —The lay-out of selections in the past has been bad. Under a policy of selling Conditional Purchase to the land best advantage, the selections have been surveyed on north and south, east and west lines, enclosing with the good land portions, more or less large, of inferior country.(see appendix).

In all future settlement the good land should be surveyed, in any shape, and sold as agricultural land; and the inferior country surrounding, laid out on north and south lines, on Perpetual Lease tenure at nominal rentals . Where the inferior country grows marketable timber (in which case it should be controlled by the Forestry Department).The perpetual Leases should contain necessary clauses, conveying to the selectors grazing rights, reserving the timber and making provision for removing the timber under conditions fair to both sides. 

Agricultural Bank. —The consensus of opinion is that the old policy of fencing the blocks is a proved mistake, and that ringbarking in a face in advance of the settler's ability to clear is also a mistake. Settlers should be encouraged to ringbark not more than ten acres at a time, to be cleared up as soon as possible. and we have elsewhere indicated that a policy of partial clearing for grass, outside the settler's minimum requirements for cultivation purposes, is advisable. Drainage schemes in Operation. —The State's drainage energies appear to have been directed hitherto in a somewhat casual and half- hearted manner. AT Pinjarra, Harvey, and Cookernup the evidence indicated that some of the drains were too shallow and that their maintenance was not kept in hand. At Capel and Busselton the drainage schemes were described as incomplete. At Torbay-Grassmere, in the Albany district and at Lake Sadie, in the Denmark district, the schemes have been ineffective. Under the present departmental control it is so difficult for individual settlers to approach the Department that improvement is more or less impossible. The drains generally are a step in the right direction, but until they are, as a whole, placed under a more sympathetic control , to which the suggestions of the settlers shall have reasonable access ,no alteration can be expected.