surveyed for returned soldiers is of very poor quality . It is simply courting failure to put a man on to it. They have wasted a lot of ,money in surveying this country.

(The witness retired.)

——————————

ALBERT SIMON CAILES , Farmer , Boyup Brook, sworn and examined:

10855. To Mr PAYNTER : I have been 20 years in this district. I had no previous experience in farming. I have 160 acres conditional purchase land, which is two miles from the railway ; it is all fenced and 40 acres are cleared and fit for ploughing. It is equipped with the necessary buildings. I go in for fruit growing principally. I have six head of cattle and keep a few hives of bees. I started with £60 capital and my position at the present time is fairly good. I can just manage to make a living . The orchard is 12 acres in extent. I find that apples pay the best. I can grow a first quality stone fruit , but the facilities for marketing are faulty. We are given the same means for sending produce to Perth all the year round , and the fruit suffers very much in transit. We want speedier transit and more louvered trucks. Peaches and apricots receive the same treatment during the heat of summer as ordinary produce does at other times of the year. The prices realised , consequently , are poor , even for first class fruit. This is the greatest drawback that local fruit-growers have to contend with. There might be a great deal better handling of fruit into the trucks. The handling is careless and the fruit is damaged considerably.

10856. Does your apiary pay ? — I found bee-keeping was profitable until recent years , but the ringbarking has spoilt the food supply.

10857. You consider this is a good district for apples and , in fact , almost all varieties of fruit , although I think it is better for apples than for other varieties.

(The witness retired)

—————————

HENRY THOMAS DOUST , Farmer , Boyup Brook , sworn and examined:

10858. To Mr PAYNTER : I have been 26 years on my present holding. I have been farming all my life. I have 2,500 , acres of which 630 are freehold and the balance C. P. It is 10 miles from the railway , all fenced and 500 acres fit for the plough. It is equipped with the necessary buildings and I have seven acres of orchard . I used to have 12 acres but I pulled out five acres of it. Some of the land proved to be unsuitable for fruit. I have the necessary working plant and last season shore 1,250 sheep. Mine is good number of stock. For instance , on my homestead farm of 1,540 acres I carry 1.100 sheep , 33 cows , 10 horses. On another block of 600 acres I carry only seven cows and four horses. On another block of 130 acres I carry 42 sheep . I have kept these returns for my own information , in order to show the carrying capacity of various parts of the estate. I started with no capital , in fact I started in debt , but I consider that my position is good now. I go in principally for sheep , although I have started dairying.

10859. To Mr VENN : I consider this is a dairying district and people should go in for more cows. For the two best months of the year I had 30 cows running on 150 acres of land. In October I sent away 479lbs. of cream and in November 483lbs. of cream. These are the returns from the factory. I estimated that I used for the house about 9lbs. of butter per week and a gallon of milk per day. This is worked out on the basis of two gallons for 1lb. of cream. It is an average of 7lbs. per cow per week for 24 cows. Thirteen of the cows were heifers and 11 were only two years old. I have tested 17 cows and their average is 4 per cent. of butter fat. These are Jerseys. I intend getting rid of my Ayrshires as I find they do not come up to the test. This is the first year I have gone in for dairying on a large scale. It was a bad year for cropping the ground was too wet. I use bran and chaff to supplement the paddock feed.

10860. What class of sheep do you go in for ? — I go in for Shropshire as I cater for the lamb trade.

10861. Is there any new settlement around you ? — No . As a matter of fact the land is no good. One thing I should like to remark upon and that is a very bad thing has been done in this district in the amount of ring barking that has been carried out. The country has not been cleared such an extent that the land is ever so much more difficult and costly to clear.

10862. To Mr PAYNTER: We should like to get more subsides for the roads. Apart from this there are no difficulties in the district worth speaking about. I may say , however , that the land that Government is opening now for selection is too high in price. There was a block thrown open near my place for which they are asking £1 per acre ; 10s. would be a very good price for it.

(The witness retired)

—————————

PERCIVAL DYSON FORREST , Dwalginup, upper Blackwood , sworn and examined:

10863. To Mr. PAYNTER: I have 2,600 acres of C . P. and freehold 200 acres only is freehold. In addtion I have 3,000 acres pastrol lease. It is 18 miles from the railway station. All of the C. P. and the pastrol lease is fenced with the exception of 500 acres. I have 300 acres cleared and fit for the plough. My farm is equipped with the necessary buildings. I have one acre of orchard. At the present time i am carrying 1,800 sheep although the carrying capacity of the crossbred Lincoln merino and find that I get better results from crossbred sheep than from the pure merino. Last year I had 90 per cent of lambs. Dogs are very bad in my country and during the last six years I have had over 1,000 sheep killed. I spent £150 last year in improving the fences and since then have only had a few sheep killed. if land is fenced properly and the fence is high enough , that is 4ft. , this will keep them out. We have endeavoured to form a