11195. Where do you dispose of your milk?—It goes to Albany Bell's, Perth. I have tabulated my January returns from the cows, which I will give you. You will observe there is no labour included in this return.

                                                                                         £      s.     d.         £       s.    d.

15 cows were milked and produced in January— 857½ gals. at 1s. equals ... ... 42 17 6 Less milk for farm use ... 2 10 0 Bran ... ... ... 7 10 0 Chaff ... ... ... 6 0 0 Half cost of 13 acres of millet 5 2 6

                                                                                          ___________        21       2     6
                                                                                                                   ______________

My net return has been ... ... 21 15 0 Plus week end milk and cream ... 4 0 0

                                                                                                                   ______________
                                                                                                                      25      15     0 

You will also observe that I fed eight dry cows on a little bran and chaff. I do not consider that any one can produce milk cheaper than we are doing. You will see that no charge has been made for the labour of two hands, feeding the eight dry cows, for horse feed and paddocking, depreciation of stock, plant, etc., and £400 in the value of the cows. Milking starts at 4:30 in the morning as the train has to be caught at 9a.m., one mile from the barns. This constitutes a 17 hours day for me. Rates and taxes are a big handicap. At the present time we are just about holding our own but it is becoming a very difficult matter to keep going. My sister and myself do all the work, my two brothers have gone to the war. I realise I should not have bought this place. Mr Connor, of the Agricultural Department, recommended it. My father is an Indian civil servant and has invested his life's savings here. He came over with letters of introduction and was put straight on the Mr Connor who told us that the best thing we could go in for was dairy farming. We went on to the wheat belt first and then Mr Connor selected this place for is. He advised us that we could not make any mistake. Mr Henning told us that there was £500 a year to be made out of it. He might have made this, but we cannot, although we work hard. Mr Gibbs, of Elder Shenton & Co., advised us that he did not consider there was money in it that we thought there would be. We put our confidence in Mr Connor. In India, we have the right men in the right place, and of course we were prepared to place our confidence in the Government official here. I am not whining on account of my hard luck and I should like to say to the Commission that we can make this dairy pay if we can get a fair price for our milk. Why not fix the price of milk produced in the same manner as the price of other commodities are fixed? You can get figures from other producers which will bear out those which I have given you. The consumers are paying a lot for their milk and the retailer is getting the profit. We cannot make it pay at less than 1s. 3d. per gallon. There is not a year in which we have not put in from 70 to 80 acres of crop for our horses, cows, and sheep.

(The witness retired.) —————————

MONTAGUE ALWIN WICKHAM, Farmer, Yarloop, sworn and examined:

11196. To the CHAIRMAN: I have 23 years in the district. I have 8-- acres, 600 of which is freehold. It is half a mile from the railway siding. I consider that all of my land is suitable to bring under the plough. I have cleared about 250 acres and have had 190 acres under the plough. I irrigate about 30 acres. It is under grass and potatoes. The land is fenced, with the exception of 140 acres. I have a fair house, of six rooms, all the necessary farm buildings and implements to work the land. I buy and sell sheep, have 10 cows, 15 horses, and could carry 350 sheep all the year round. I started with about £500 capital. So far I have been able to develop the land with this capital, with the usual assistance obtainable from the bank. I can make a living on my property, which I derive principally from mixed farming. I go in for a little of everything.

11197. By the CHAIRMAN: Do you think that a man coming into this district and buying a property at the generally accepted valuation of farm lands here can make a living?—Not if he has to employ labour. The shortage of labour is the chief difficulty in this district. I had an orchard, but on account of the price of labour, I pulled it out.

11198. To Mr VENN: I find that potatoes are profitable, although the market is not sure. Labour is the trouble again in this industry. It is not the price of the labour so much as the quality of it. This constitutes the greatest setback tot he dairying industry. As soon as you start to pay wages the profits are done. I consider it is an exceptionally good district for dairying. Would it not be possible for the Government to make some experiments in milking machines? (Mr Venn explained that the Commissioner had made exhaustive enquiries in regard to milking machines when in the Eastern States and in all instances the machines had been discarded, the farmers preferring rather to milk by hand). Another thing, I should like to see is some experiments carried out by the Government in the direction of investigating the home distillation of alcohol for combustion purposes.

11199. By the CHAIRMAN: What assistance do you consider the Agricultural Department has been to the agricultural industry in this district?—Experts are brought here to advise us to do things that are suitable and practicable in the Eastern States, but which, unfortunately, are found to be not practicable here. I should like to enter a protest against dispensing with Dr. Stoward's services. We should certainly have a pathologist to investigate various diseases in crops.

11200. to Mr VENN: I find that my potatoes are full of disease. I find great difficulty also in getting good seed. I consider that we should be able to get seed potatoes from the Eastern States. There is an idea amongst growers that Eastern States potatoes will spoil the market for us. I do not see how this can be. I consider that the Delaware is one of the best varieties for this district. I have grown my own seed so far, but I think I should now have a change.

(The witness retired.) ——————————