50lbs. of wheat. The rainfall at Scaddan is 18 inches. I have kept no stock until this year. We now have some pigs.

166. Do you believe in fallowing and cultivating?—Absolutely. It is lack of system which has been responsible for the failures in the Esperance district. I have had no assistance whatever from the Government.

167. By Mr. PADBURY: What amount have you put into the land down there?—In time and money, over £1,500. We have no dam. The Government dam is right opposite to us.

168. By the CHAIRMAN: Would you sell for £1,500?—Yes.

169. By Mr. McDONALD: If you had a railway?—I do not think so. I would then be content to carry on. It is all Mr. Scaddan's fault, because he promised the railway. When Mr. Wilson got in we knew it was time for us to get out, because Mr. Wilson said years ago that we would never get the railway. (The witness retired.)

JAMES HAWTHORN WARD, aged 45, Engine-driver, married, two boys, aged 9 and 10, sworn and examined:

170. By the CHAIRMAN: You are the secretary of the Esperance Land and Railway League?—Yes.

170a. You have selected some land at Esperance?—Yes, in 1910 I selected 1,000 acres, Loc. 60. I afterwards transferred to the Fitzgerald district. I was born on a farm, but I have had no previous experience of farming in this country. I paid one year's rent on the land. Owing to mismanagement in the Land's Office, it has cost me over £150 on improvements. I made application for a loan of £250. This was granted, and I paid one per cent. deposit. I have had no experience of clearing and cropping in the district. I have inspected the lands and crops down there, and as a result I was prepared to bring out my father and sister from the Old Country. I was one of 40 selectors. If the railway had been approved, all those 40 would have worked the land. If the railway had been built five years ago, half a million acres of land would now be under cultivation.

171. Was some of this land taken up for speculative purposes?—Mr. Scaddan suggested that to me in Kalgoorlie. I am convinced it is untrue. Every one of the applications was bona fide. I think that 65 or 70 miles north of Esperance is as far as would be safe for wheat growing. The action of the previous Government in not having built the railway more quickly has been a very great disappointment to the people of the district. The previous Government induced large numbers of people to go down there to almost certain failure, and in consequence I have lately recommended many not to have anything to do with the land down there.

172. By Mr. PADBURY: Did they all take your advice?—No, they did not. I advised them not to go until the railway was authorised. If the railway were an accomplished fact, people would pour into that district. Messrs. Collier, Johnson, and Angwin visited Kalgoorlie in 1912. Mr. Collier was then president of the league. We had a letter from Mr. Paterson, promising that the Agricultural Bank would make advances in the district.

173. Can you get that letter?—No; but it will not be denied.

173a. By the CHAIRMAN: I think it will?—Mr. Paterson has admitted it on several occasions. It was written immediately after that flying visit to the district. Mr. E. B. Johnston was secretary to the league at that time. He succeeded by Mr. McClintock, who was succeeded by Mr. Levitus, who was killed in action in France. He was succeeded by Mr. Thomas, now farming at Brookton.

174. Do you know any member of the league besides yourself who would have a recollection of that letter?—They all remember it. It was in the possession of the league up to the time when Mr. Levitus was secretary. I could almost repeat the letter. Mr. Paterson said that grants would be made on agricultural land in the Esperance district on the same terms as in other districts, provided a sufficiently large area was taken up to assure a living being made on it. When the Labour Government came into power we suggested to Mr. Collier, our then president, that they should indemnify the Agricultural Bank in the same way as the Leake Government indemnified it when Mr. Paterson would not grant assistance to settlers at Hamel. I have on the file a letter from Mr. Collier, in which he refused to do that, but made a similar offer to that of the Wilson Government, which was an indemnification to the Bank for assistance to 12 or 15 farmers to experiment. He went on to ask us not to accept that because it would be said it was the policy of the Wilson Government. Mr. Collier came up here and at a meeting he asked that no records should be kept or reporters admitted. An official statement was made to the Press afterwards. This proposition of indemnification of the Bank was put to Mr. Collier at that meeting, but he refused it on the ground that Mr. Paterson was not sympathetic. He said that if it was left in their hands they would give the Esperance farmers out of the Agricultural Vote the same assistance that Mr. Paterson could give through the Bank. On the strength of that promise, within the next few days a number of settlers started down there from here. Roberts with several others got down there before Mr. Paterson arrived. In answer to Mr. Paterson, Roberts said it would cost £1 an acre to prepare, and Mr. Paterson said, " Well, I will allow you 3s. 6d." I understand Roberts got it to the full. He and his syndicate took up a large tract. Cassidy, on whose reports they took up the land, took as his authority a young man from the Pinnaroo district, South Australia. Cassidy reported to the Kalgoorlie Miner, and Roberts and others formed a syndicate, and took up 10,000 or 20,000 acres.

175. By Mr. McDONALD: Did they intend working the land?—Dr. Richardson was one of them, and his son is working the land now. When Mr. Sutton came down the interpretation he placed on the promise of assistance by the Government was that it did not apply to that district. Mr. Scaddan told me in the course of private conversation that a pack of land speculators were grabbing land down there, and were trying to get the Labour Government to give them the accrued increment. He said it was largely a conspiracy between Mr. Burton and Mr. Kirwan to try to split the coastal and goldfields Labour party. The people who went down there did not get the assistance promised them. (The witness retired.)

The Commission adjourned.