miles nearer to the coast than I am, and I am nine miles from the Estuary.

11290. By Mr. VENN: Are the orchards here subject to diseases, as for instance, Woolly Aphis?—I have no Woolly Aphis on my place. It is bad in this district. It can be kept under if a man works at it. If however, you let it go on, it will account for 50 per cent of the crop. I apply crude kerosene. Most men have such large places that they cannot look after it closely enough.

11291. To the CHAIRMAN: For three years my apples have been sent Home. Last year they brought £2 10s. per case in the English market. I consider that apples grown in this climate which the experts say is unsuitable, have fetched as good a price as those grown anywhere else.

11292. To Mr. PAYNTER: On the question of fruit cases, I consider that we are only paying a fair thing. The white wood cases jumped from 6½d. to 8½d. Then when the red wood came in they were 4s. 6d., but there was a difficulty in getting them. Millars advised us that if they could get good wood they could supply all the cases required in the State. There are several small mills starting now and I think we shall be able to carry on and there will be no shortage. The prices now are 5s. 5d. for flats and 10s. 6d. for dumps.

11293. To Mr. CLARKSON: In regard to re-using the cases: I consider this could be done, without causing any trouble, if they were put through a process that will prevent them from carrying a process that will prevent them from carrying disease. If people knew that the cases could be returned or sold they would take more care in opening them. The cost of returning "empties" is very little over the railway.

11294. How do the railway freights affect you?—They do not hurt me much. The railway facilities are poor from the soft fruit growers' standpoint. The present arrangements of sending soft fruit to Armadale and trans-shipping it on to the Jandakot line, entails extra handling and does not enable it to reach Perth until too late for sale the same day. It has to be sold the next day. Pears are treated similarly. I have tried for four years to get this altered. Mr. George considered that he was going to do a great deal. What he did was to have the fruit picked up by the train we wanted, but it is still dumped at Armadale. I do not see why it could not be taken direct through to Perth. This extra handling means the difference between profit and loss to growers.

11295. The CHAIRMAN: Would you forward a statement showing in what manner the present train service is inadequate?—Yes, I will do so.

(The witness retired.)

CORNELIUS WILFRED FONTLEROY, Farmer, Pinjarra, sworn and examined:

11296. I have been on the land in this district for five years. I was in the British Navy prior to that. I have 255 acres C.P. land but do not consider any of it first class. It is all second class. It is six miles from the railway station, fenced, and 30 acres have been cleared and under the plough. I have four acres under intense culture, a two roomed bat house and no buildings or sheds. I have three horses, one cow, one pigs. I started with £300 capital. I have received money from private sources, otherwise I should not have been able to carry on. I devote my land to the cultivation of vegetables and find I can make a living, but that is about all. If my land was freehold, I should be able to do all right. Last year my income from the place was about £80. The land is situated about due west from here.

11297. To Mr. VENN: My market for vegetables is Perth. I get top prices as a rule. I have now one and a half acres of peas in, besides pumpkins, water melons, etc.

11298. Are you satisfied with the prospects?—Yes. If I can keep going until I get stock I shall not have any difficulty. I intend to go in for sheep, and will rent a place for the purpose.

11299. To the CHAIRMAN: I was born in this State and had experience in the wheat belt but I had enough of that. I was advised to get a place partly developed and I went to the various agents and, as a result, I bought this place. I was at Brookton also for two years.

11300. By Mr. VENN: Is there any new settlement in this district?—No.

11301. Are you troubled with surplus water?—Yes, my land is practically water-logged. We badly want drainage here.

11302. By the CHAIRMAN: Do you think there is anything else the State could do to send this district ahead?—We want good roads also, but drainage for the whole district is one of the main things required. This should come before anything else.

11303. To Mr. VENN: I planted onions in large quantities one year but the weeds were so bad that I had to cut down the area. From a square chain I got a ton of onions.

11304. By the CHAIRMAN: And yet you tell us that your land is not first class?—If it was drained you could consider it first class but it is certainly not first class now. In places the soil goes down 9 to 10ft. but in other places there is a hard substance underneath only 2 to 3ft. down.

11305. By Mr. VENN: What was the nature of the timber?—Red gum and paper bark. The soil varies in colour. Where I grew the onions it was a chocolate soil but it is mostly a grey loam with yellow loam underneath. I consider that, with drainage, this country will carry four sheep to the acre. Couch grows wel on this land as soon as it gets a chance.

11306. To the CHAIRMAN: One thing that is crippling this district is the large estates close to the town. All the small places are a long way out but these large areas should be supporting dozens of families. Small people have to go too far back. You have to drive round these big holdings.

11307. To Mr. VENN: The Government has spent some money on the drainage scheme here but not enough. The drains are not big enough to carry the water that runs into them. The people at the lower end of the drain get flooded out every winter. The last reply we had from the Drainage Department—18 months ago—was that if we wanted anything done we would have to do it ourselves. The department only cleaned my drain out on the condition that I would ask for nothing more in the future. This was when the drain through my property was blocked up and my land inundated.

(The witness retired.)