name and am managing 17,000 acres for Castieau and Hedges. This includes leasehold property. there is about 12,000 acres of freehold fenced and divided into 20 paddocks. We have 500 Acres cleared and 5,000 acres partly cleared. We also have about 8,000 acres ringbarked, in which I have included the partly cleared land. In the red gum country we have to pay 2s 3d per acres for ringbarking, and immediately afterwards the country starts to improve. I consider that the 12,000 acres of the fenced country will carry 6,000 sheep. This is the number we have just shorn. We put down a good deal of grass and clovers, and also grow a quantity of potatoes. Of our cleared land 50 acres per annum is put down in grasses, and up to now, we have 200 acres under grass. We grow about 12 acres of potatoes annually. The average yield has been about four tons. We put 12cwt. of manure to the acre. I consider, however, the present manures are not much good. As you know we cannot get potash, and potatoes cannot be grown successfully without this.

11047. Do your sheep do well?▬Yes, my average lambing equals 65 per cent. The average wool clip for grown sheep is about 7½lbs., and for the lambs 2lbs. to 3lbs of wool.

11048. What is your line of development now?▬We intend to go in for sheep, and are breaking up new land for this purpose. We have had 800 acres pulled by the tractor.

11049. By Mr PAYNTER: Do you find the natural grasses satisfactory?▬Yes; the native grasses, however, are only in patches. Of course ours is clover country.

11050. What do you estimate the cost of clearing?▬The cost of clearing fit for the plough as a maximum equals about £4. Potato lands will cost from £8 to £10 to clear. We grown potatoes, however, on all classes of land. I consider the Government should never have stopped the tree-pulling by tractor; it is the best means of development. The trouble we have here with cattle is caused by their eating the Zamia palm. This should be coped with. For sheep you must have sufficient country and the holdings, generally speaking, are too small.

11051. By the CHAIRMAN: Do you use any of the country for stock outside of the 8,000 acres to which you refer?▬Sometimes we do; it is not fenced, but we let the sheep run out.

11052. To Mr. PAYNTER: There are no dogs in this district. We do lose sheep; we lose about ten per cent from different causes.

11053. By the CHAIRMAN: Are there any other matters of Government policy that you would like to bring under our notice?▬I consider that the South-West will never be satisfactorily developed without irrigation. The Government have a very comprehensive scheme mapped out for irrigation and there is no doubt that this will be the thing. They have a site on the Collie River where they can impound ten times the quantity of water that Mundaring can hold. Snagging the rivers is another good thing. This helps to drain the country. We get no help in these matters from the Government. I consider that any benefits that the Government have to confer should be distributed equally.

11054. What is your opinion of the action taken in dispensing with the services of the Fruit Commissioners? -It seems to me absolutely wrong. It is a time for development, and these men are wanted. I speak both of Mr Moody and Mr Connor. They were new chums of course, when they came here, and had to learn a lot. We had a dairy expert here also, and when he had gained his experience of local conditions he was sent out of the district to manage a little State farm. I speak of Mr Abernethy, the man they obtained from Scotland. He was a first-class man.

11055. Have you any experience of the State farm at Brunswick? -Yes. They have a good man there, but the place is killed by the Ministers. I favour local boards for the management of State farms. I consider also that the commissioners for the district should be domiciled away from Perth. As a matter of fact. this room in which you are sitting was practically set aside for Mr Connor's use. The State farm has been of great help in lots of ways. It has shown us that we cannot grow lucerne here on account of the couch grass. I was going in for a big plant, and when i saw that the couch was getting the upper hand of the lucerne at the State farm i desisted. The Government purchased a herd of the Illawarra cattle. This would have been of great use if the herd had been kept together, but they were distributed throughout the country. They have gone in for Ayrshire cattle at Brunswick. The people do not want Aryshire cattle; they will not forage like other breeds. I would prefer to see them keep several breeds of stud cattle at Brunswick. Also I think that Yandanooka should be a stud farm.

11056. By Mr Paynter: Do you consider that the cattle for the State farm should be auctioned or sold by private treaty? -Settlers would like to buy the calves from the State farm stock, say a week old; this is the fairest way. A great deal of trouble at the State farm was that the cattle were not reared properly. The trouble also has been that the State farm only sold its culls.

11057. To the Chairman: I do not go in for fruit-growing.

11058. Have you done any irrigation? -No.

11059. To Mr Paynter: Lucerne has been a payable crop to grow, but the dry period checks it. Lambs go off very much in this district. I consider that many other crops under irrigation would pay.

11060. As a result of your experience here, are you a believer in the South-West? -Very much so. I have never regretted coming here, and think it has a great future before it. I should have mentioned that paspalum is the great feed in these parts. Another thing we badly want are proper roads, contour roads, not such as have been built over steep hills.I should like also to say that there is a great deal of feeling here that the Government is neglecting the rabbit question. Although we have a pastoralists government in power, they are not doing anything, and we view this with great alarm. (The Witness Retired.)

ELI Allen, Orchardist and Vigneron, and Mixed Farmer, Bunbury, sworn and examined:

11061. To the Chairman: I have been settled in this district for 14 years. I have 605 acres, which is all freehold. It is four miles from the railway line, is all fenced, and 50 acres cleared; 50 acres have been under the plough. I have 12 acres under orchard, and eight under vines. I have the necessary plant and the usual type of farm—