limed it would set the natural fertilising properties free.

11593. What is the cost of clearing your country?—We cannot clear here under £10 to £12 per acre and this is not fully clearing, it is only partially done.

11594. What is your opinion of the district?—As a fruit growing district I consider it cannot be beaten. As an illustration of the keeping quality of the apples, some of mine after being two weeks on the wharf at Fremantle, seven weeks in cool storage at Albany, were then taken by the "Suffolk" to England, where they fetched 7s. 9d. per case for 84 cases. You will recollect the "Suffolk" had a very adventurous trip and the apples were delayed a good deal in transit.

(The witness retired.)

JAMES PATERSON, Farmer, Denmark, sworn and examined:

11595. To the CHAIRMAN: I arrived in this State seven years ago and have been on my holding seven years next June. I was in the metal trade at home. I have 100 acres, the reduced price of which is 15s. per acre. I am 1 1/2 miles from the railway siding and have 30 acres cleared and partially cleared. The block is fenced and subdivided. I am a married man with six children, have a house of four rooms, sheds, stables, dairy, feed shed, and an eight-stalled milking shed. I have stone pig styes, feeding shed and boiler room for the pigs. I have about 14 acres of orchard in bearing. Some of my trees have not done well and the inspector advises me they are likely to die on account of excessive moisture. I have eight cows in milk, three heifers, one bull and seven pigs. Two of these pigs are ready for the market now. Up to the present I have spent about £2,000 and have borrowed form the Agricultural Bank about £200. With my present experience I consider that I need not have borrowed from the Agricultural Bank at all. When we first came here most settlers held the idea that we could grow potatoes, vegetables, etc. I send one ton of pumpkins to the goldfields and received £2 4s. back, so you see we are too far away from the market for this class of produce. I cannot make a living off my block at the present time. So far I have been living on my capital, but am at the turning point now and next seaosn hope to make a good deal from the cows and apples, which should give me a fair return.

11596. By Mr. VENN: How do your cows milk?—The last cream cheque I got from the factory for a fortnight was £5 10s. 2d. This was from seven cows. Now I have eight cows and consider that these will pay me even better, as I am feeding them heavily. The fortnightly payments are a great help to the settlers. If a man has to wait for a month, it is somewhat severe.

11597. Do settlers have any difficulty in getting the services of the bulls from the State farms?—I have my own, but I know when Mr. Abernethy was there, I could always get a bull. To my mind, this district has a great future before it. I consider now that we have discovered that the cow, the pig, and orchard are the lines on which must go, success is assured for this district and anything can be done to help settlers in these industries will be an advantage. If we had sufficient ground cleared it would assist in the direction of placing the land quicker under cultivation. There are settlers here who have a certain amount of ground cleared, but their resources are exhausted before they can cultivate and the Agricultural Bank might, I think assist these settlers as they now have to go off their holdings to obtain work. The bank's policy has been to force the settler to clear by advancing his money to do this and they leave him without any funds to cultivate his land.

(The witness retired.)