coastal south-western lands can only be properly utilised after drainage. I am referring not only to the swampy land close to the coast, but to much of the level red gum plains lying between the coast and the hills. The work will add materially to the cost of the land, but unfortunately much of it is comparatively little use without. With drainage the naturally corollary is irrigation. It sounds contradictory but is a fact, and I have taken note of large areas which, if drained, could be cheaply irrigated in summer, and so be made to produce, besides a winter crop of ensilage, good summer crops of green fodder, roots, and kale.

11907. One other question has suggested itself as we went along. Witnesses tell us they are suspicious that their manures are leaching away, when applied on wet lands in the South-West. What is your opinion?—They are not leaching away, but they are not being utilised because of the unhealthy biological condition of the land. You must have a genial condition of soil before your manures can be utilised. It is the biological condition of those lands that is so bad. The physical condition is wrong, and the biological condition is wrong, and you cannot get them right until you drain. I do not necessarily mean under-drain. A great deal of that land can be managed without any under-draining. The drains put in by the Government at Waroona have turned absolutely worthless land there into good grazing land. Probably the cost of irrigating that land would be the decimal of a farthing per 1,000 gallons. If the Government finish the draining and put on the water, hardly any grading will be required, because the land is almost level.

11908. You mean that the same drains which take the water off can irrigate the land by banking?—Yes. But there must be drainage and irrigation going together. The only land where fertiliser leaches out is the sandy land. But that is the land that does not get wet. Old potato growers in Benger will give you a demonstration that on the swamp, where there is three feet of water in winter time, the fertiliser does not leach away. Wherever there is clay in the soil, the fertiliser, except the nitrogen, will not leach. This is not an opinion, but definitely proved fact in Europe, America, and Australia.

(The witness retired.)

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Representatives of the perishable food trade were asked to confer with the Commission in regard to the transport of these commodities by rail. The representatives were:—

JAMES MACFARLANE, Dairying industry.

Messrs. F. SIIMPER and A. KEENE, Fruit industry.

11909. By the CHAIRMAN: We have called you here to-day in order that we might confer on the question of the transport of perishable produce from the South-West, believing that it may be possible to induce the Railway Department to establish a train service that would suit both trades. From a railway point of view, it would, of course, be almost impossible for them to reconcile the various requests made by producers with the general policy of railway transport but the commission thought that after a conference it might be possible to decide on a train service that would suit the dairying and fruit people alike.

11910. Mr. MACFARLANE: I must thank you, gentlemen, for the opportunity of discussing this matter and need not say that I shall be please to give all information possible which will tend to improve the transport conditions, so far as the milk and butter trade with Perth is concerned. I have been making inquiries since the receipt of your letter from milk vendors in Perth, and I find that they have very little complaint. there is only one service in regard to which there is any dissatisfaction and this is the Sunday night train from Mundijong, which arrives too late. It can be taken this way, that any milk which arrives in Perth after 8.30 p.m., or after 9 a.m. in the morning, is unsuitable to the trade, unless say a train that would arrive at midday from a long run. It is to the suburban and outer-suburban supplies that our caterers look for the milk trade. I hold, nevertheless, that the consumption of milk could considerably be increased if a good supply were available in the City, handled and distributed by different methods of those which now obtain. At the present time I am getting out a report for the City Council on the matter and have a report by Mr. Higgs, Inspector of the Central Board of Health, which I intend to use in this connection. What we are aiming at is a cheaper and better service. We have often called on the Minister for Railways in regard to the train services from Mundijong and Brunswick, on behalf of the producers in those parts, who are anxious to supply milk to Perth. From July to about September the suburban districts supply increasing quantities and if vendors can obtain fresh milk close at hand from those sources, you will understand that it is to the detriment of those in the country who are producing, and it has been the means of many of the country producers going out of business. When you tell me that you will endeavour to suggest to the Railways some scheme that will serve all parties, I can only say I wish you luck. I certainly think that it would be possible for the fruit and milk industries to work hand in hand. In this, Mr. Simper is in agreement with me, I feel sure. A fast train from the South-West should be possible, but I cannot make any suggestions at the present time that would improve the service so far as the milk trade is concerned. Those interested in the trade advise me that the train service is fair so far, with the exception of the train on Sunday to which I have referred/

11911. The CHAIRMAN: It appears to be more of a grower's complaint than a consumer's, so far as the trains service is concerned.

11912. Mr. MACFARLANE: Yes. That part of the country so admirably suited to supply the milk trade is prohibited from coming into the market at all. People get a start in dairying, breeding up a herd in the South-West, and then, finding trains are cut out, and unsuitable for them to carry on the trade in competition with the City man, have to relinquish it, or at any rate are unable to supply for many months of the year. Take the Bunbury train, for instance, which gets in here at 8 p.m. This is suitable. If the one from Brunswick were to get in at 9 in the morning it would suit better than any other time. If it comes in later than it is unsuitable for the milk, which has to be carried on to the next delivery.

11913. The CHAIRMAN: It seems to me, therefore, that the suggestion of an improvement to the