FRIDAY, 15th FEBRUARY, 1918. (At Armadale.)

Present: J. O. Giles, Esq., Chairman. H. H. Paynter, Esq., | F. E. Venn, Esq.

WILLIAM HENRY LOCKARD, Farmer and Orchardist, Armadale, sworn and examined:

11385. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been on the land in this district for six years. I have 100 acres of freehold land, about 2½ miles from the railway station; approximately 80 acres are suitable for cultivation. It is all fenced, and 80 acres have been cleared. I have a house, the necessary buildings and implements to work the land, six head of horses and 16 head of cattle. I have seven acres of orchard planted to mixed fruit trees. Five acres of citrus have been planted five years; some of the other trees I am informed have been planted 30 years or more, others were only put in two years ago.

11386. Do you practice irrigation?—No, except on a small patch of lucerne. My principal operations are poultry raising and fruit.

11387. By Mr. VENN: Do you find fruitgrowing profitable?—I cannot say that I have, but I am not sufficiently interested in the industry to say whether it can be made so or not. I devote more time to my poultry.

11388. By Mr. PAYNTER: What number of birds do you keep?—I have 800 head of orpingtons and leghorns. I run these on the colony system.

11389. What is your system of hatching?—I use incubators of three makes. I find them all satisfactory, though in respect to the heating apparatus, the self adjuster on the Petaluma is good.

11389a. What is the average egg production from your fowls?—It is difficult to say. I consider if I get 180 per head per annum it is a fair average. To be candid with you, I do not take the thing very seriously. At the present time it is difficult to get wheat for feeding the birds. When I was in business in Kalgoorlie, I could get my wheat cheaper up there than I can here. We are compelled now to send our cheque in to Dalgety's for our wheat. They received our cheque on Saturday, and it was on the following Monday week that we got the wheat. The other merchants will pay cash with invoice, and they get their wheat right away.

11390. By the CHAIRMAN: To what do you attribute the delay?—It is the fact that this is a monopoly. Competition would do away with it. Another thing, this firm will show you a sample, you buy on this and when the wheat comes along it is absolutely rotten, but we have to grin and bear it, and we have to pay on the sample that we bought on. Mr. Seymour has advised us that is does not matter what is supplied, there is no adjustment made if the wheat is not up to quality. The wheat comes from North Fremantle, and as you know, Dalgety's have the sole right of distribution. The firm will not give you a sample to hold. It is shown you at their premises. Before they had the monopoly we could buy from the merchants. We got some through Messrs. Darling, and when we got a bad sample they took our word for it, and supplied us with better stuff.

11391. To Mr. PAYNTER: Just at the time that the pool was started, we had made arrangements with Mr. Nott, at Yorkrakine, for a 12 months supply, but we had notice to cancel this, and ever since then we have been in trouble. One of the points that we take strong exception to is that they are compelling us to take rubbish at 4s. 3d. per bushel, which before the war would not be worth 2s. 6d. At the present time the poultry industry is "down and out" owing to the price of feed, and also on account of the poor price of poultry.

11392. What remedy do you suggest in the way of marketing?—I would recommend open markets for the sale of eggs and poultry. Then people could go in, and, if they wanted say a thousand dozen eggs, they could fix the price, and take what they want. At the present time we are trying to organise so that the sale will be held under one roof. The present system is absolutely ruinous. I am sorry there are not more here to give you evidence, but it is a difficult matter to get people to come along even in their own interests.

11393. By the CHAIRMAN: Have any eggs been bought for pulping?—Yes, Messrs. Hunt and Nelson have pulping plants. When there is a glut in eggs, Mr. Nelson takes them himself from his auction rooms, and some of the poultry keepers think this is a good thing for Nelson. I cannot see how anyone cane blame him. As a matter of fact he is to be complimented on his enterprise.

11394. To Mr. PAYNTER: So far as table poultry is concerned, I keep the black orpingtons until a reasonable size, but it is only infrequently that you get a fair return for them. December is the best time to sell, and I sent in 50 pairs of black orpington cockerels, and the best price I could get for them was 3s. 6d. per pair. I consider they should have been worth 6s. to 7s. per pair. There is no chance of making a living at poultry keeping at these prices.

11395. Do you consider there is any prospect of working up the export trade?—Yes, I think it would be possible to export after the war. New Zealand has done so in a small way. I was surprised to learn on investigation that the poultry industry in the State is worth more than the dairying industry of the State. The organiser of the co-operative concern, to which I referred, advised us that it is now in the vicinity of £200,000. We had a Commissioner