11235. By Mr. CLARKSON: Referring again to your potato cultivation, what is the average yield for these districts?—I claim that the average from Pinjarra to Harvey is about three tons. It will cost £15 to put in one acre of potatoes. This is what it cost me last year. I got four tons to the acre off this cropping. Unless we can get cheaper manure we cannot compete with the Eastern States. We cannot dairy here either unless we can get manures cheaper. We have got good results from Abrolhos Island guano. The Government could control this manure and if they could supply it at £3 10s. a ton, we would buy it. Now it costs £5. In regard to the carriage of manures also, settlers are going in for mixed farming and cannot afford to get five-ton trucks, and we have to pay as much for one ton as we have to pay for five. I have paid as much for two bags of ammonia as I do for a five-ton truck. The present rate does not suit us.

11236-7. By Mr. CLARKSON: Have the experts of the Department of Agriculture been of assistance to you?—Mr. Berthoud, late experimentalist at Hamel, was of benefit not only to this district but the whole State. I know that this man when in the Government experimented and produced seed from the potato apple from which very excellent results were procured. Personally, I do not know any of the experts of the Department of Agriculture. They never come on to my property except at election time. Mr. Bratby, the potato expert, was here once and gave us a lecture, and I must say he gave us some very good advice. He recommended that potato growers should form a co-operative society. I think this would be a very good thing. The growers could arrange a standard size of bags and standardise their marketing, etc. There are a great many difficulties in the manner of marketing, and in regard to such questions of minimum freights which could probably be overcome. (The witness retired.)

DAVID BELL BLAKE, Orchardist and Dairy Farmer, Springfield, Coolup, sworn and examined:

11238. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been seven years on the land in this district. I have 200 acres freehold four miles from the railway station and it is all fenced. I consider 50 acres is first class. I have cleared 130 acres, 120 acres has been under the plough and 16 acres under intense culture. I have 15 acres of orchard, a house of five rooms, the necessary stables and sheds and implements for working the land. I have five horses, 17 head of cattle and 20 pigs. I started with £700. I have been able to develop my property since without going into debt. I can make a living on my holding. I go in for dairying and fruit growing principally.

11239. By Mr. CLARKSON: Do you consider the district well suited for dairying?—It depends on the man. This has not been considered a dairying district until lately, but there is a great deal of interest taken in dairying now. Fruit has been cheap and there has been an increasing number of people who cannot get loans from the Agricultural Bank. When I came here from the old country I intended to go in for wheat growing, but I did not like it. I then made up my mind to go in for fruit. While the trees were growing I went in for dairying again and grew such crops as millet and other summer fodders.

11240. To Mr. VENN: I milk eight cows. The gross return from these is £14 a month. This is besides what we use ourselves. We milk for about nine months of the year.

11241. To Mr. CLARKSON: I hand feed my cows all the year round. There is no time of the year that they will milk on the natural feed. I do not recommend feeding in the bush only. In order to get the best results from cows they must get a full ration of food and have time to rest. I consider that provided they have sufficient available land people could employ labour and succeed in dairying. There are many people who do not understand dairying. We send the cream from our cows to the factory and give the skim milk to pigs.

11242. To the CHAIRMAN: We send our cream either to Bunbury or Busselton. I consider the Busselton factory is better. It would be a good thing to send the milk to Perth if the train service was any good.

11243. To Mr. CLARKSON: Those who do this are obtaining 1s. a gallon in Perth. At some season of the year you cannot sell your milk in Perth however.

11244. To Mr. PAYNTER: A shilling a gallon is a profitable price for milk. It is better than turning it into butter. It only equals 7d. a gallon when we send the cream away.

11245. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have five acres of orchard in bearing. Young trees are just coming on. I grow apples, oranges, peaches, lemons, and apricots. From five acres of orchard I got £175 one year and last year I got £250 from it. The crop was big last year. Stone fruits were poor this season.

11246. By Mr. PAYNTER: Have you practised thinning your crop?—No, it is not necessary here. The wind always thins out the crop sufficiently. I came out as an immigrant. There were 200 on the boat on which I came out. Of that 200 12 were agricultural hands. Selection of immigrants was left to the shipping companies. There were a lot of undesirable people in this shipment. I think a man should be sent Home to select people, and if you want dairymen you should go to a dairying district in the old country.

11247. Have you received any assistance from the experts of the Agricultural Department?—Yes, I have received a lot of assistance from Mr. Moody. I did not know one fruit tree from another. Mr Moody and also Mr. Connor were both of great assistance to us. They were both hard working men and assisted us very considerably. I consider that these men would be of great benefit to the people coming here after the war. I have been all over Europe and I find that wherever dairying is carried on there is more money than in other agricultural pursuits. In regard to the land in the old country, if there is a farm available for lease suitable for dairying, it will fetch more than double the rent than one where dairying cannot be carried on. The land between here and Pinjarra is held in large areas. It should be cut up and settled. I admit that the land does not look good, but it is capable of improvement. The price of agricultural seed has gone up 100 per cent. I should like to see something done to reduce this to a reasonable figure. In regard to the need for a bacon factory