THURSDAY, 26TH OCTOBER, 1916. (At Grass Patch.) Present:

Charles Edward Dempster, Esq. (Chairman). Matthew Thomas Padbury, Esq., | Ranald McDonald, Esq.

GEORGE HARRIS SWEET, aged 45, manager, Honey Lea Farm, Grass Patch, married, four boys, 6 to 9 years, sworn and examined:

252. By the CHAIRMAN: Do you hold any land in the Esperance district?—Yes, at the 30-Mile, 2,000 acres of C.P. at 10s per acre. I am living at Honey Lea farm, the property of E. W. Stearne, of Kalgoorlie, which I manage at a salary of £2 per week and a share of the crop. My land is at Scaddan, Locs. 539 and 540. I have been here five years. I took up my land a year after Mr. Stearne took up his. Mr. Stearne had no improvements when I agreed to manage for him. I am practically in partnership with him. On my land I have 225 acres rolled down. The rolling was done in 1914. It cost 6s. I have also a 700 yards tank, which cost 1s. 6d. per yard. There are no other improvements. The cleared land has been partly burned. I have had from the Agricultural Department an advance of 6s. per acre, together with an advance on the dam; in all £107. I intend to farm the land as soon as feasible. At present it is impossible to farm at a profit. We require railway facilities. In the anticipation of a railway, I had expected to be cropping about 1,000 acres. I am in a position to go on farming as soon as we have a railway. I have had 17 years' experience of farming mallee country on Yorke's Peninsula. I was 32 years of age when I left the Peninsula. The land in this district compares favourably with a lot of that on the Peninsula. It is not so even over there. The rainfall is about the same. Here at Grass Patch we have 15 inches, just about what they get on the Peninsula. At Seaddan the rainfall is 17 inches. I have grown no crops on my land. I have had the ordinary mixed farming experience of stock. On the Peninsula I was working for others most of the time. Mr. Stearne's block of a thousand acres is on Loc. 98. The improvements consist of four miles of fencing from one wire to four wires, a dam of 1,030 yards 12 feet deep, 500 acres of clearing, a house of hessian and iron, and a bush stable for six horses. The present will be the fifth crop. The first was grown in 1912. In the first place, 100 acres was rolled down in February and burn in March. The crop was disc-harrowed in. Rolling cost 5s. and clearing 2s. 6d., cultivation cost about 5s. apart from seed and super. We paid 8s. a bushel for seed. For the first crop we used from three-quarters of a bushel to one bushel of seed according to the variety, and 60lbs. of super. The result was a drought. There was rain after July. I cut 6cwt. of hay per acre from 50 acres and stripped 4 bushels from the remainder. In 1913 I rolled 400 acres by traction engine at a cost of 4s. 9d. Burning and clearing cost 6d. per acre. We have not had a very clean burning. I sowed 250 acres with a disc cultivating plough and harrowed it, using 60lbs. of super and a bushel of seed. It was drilled in. We had another dry season, getting practically no rain at all, and I cut about the same quantity of hay per acre from 125 acres, but the rain came in August and filled the Federation wheat out to 9 bushels with an average of 7½. The total yield was about 250 bags. In 1914 I fallowed 25 acres, and cropped 250 acres with the disc cultivating plough, using 60lbs. of super and a bushel of seed. The rainfall that year was again patchy. I cut 80 acres for 30 tons of hay. The wheat averaged 5 bushels. In 1915 I sowed 250 acres with the disc cultivating plough. I cut 18cwt. of hay over 80 acres, some went 25cwt. The wheat failed through rust owing to too much rain. I got 200 bags off the balance.

253. What did you do with your wheat?—We used what we could on the property and carted the rest 80 miles to Norseman. Last year and the year before I got 8s. a bushel in Norseman. A man can cart up at that price, but of course it is exceptional. This year I have in crop 210 acres of wheat save for 25 acres of oats and give acres of skinless barley. The crop looks very fair, equal to 10 bushels. I cannot say what the hay will be. I have eight working horses, a plough, a binder, a drill, harrows, stripper, chaffcutter, horse works, and a couple of drays. All our machinery came through Norseman,The freights paid were fairly stiff. Cartage from Norseman is £6 per ton and from Esperance £5. All our super has come through Norseman, 80 miles. We carted it with our own teams of three to five horses in a dray team. Two drays are better than one wagon on this road. We have a pedigreed stallion. I think Mr. Stearne has had money from the Agricultural Department. I cannot say how much; he had £50 on the dam and something on the rolling. I am convinced that wheat can be grown satisfactorily in the district if we had reasonable facilities. We have had a cycle of bad years up to last year, which accounts for our poor returns. I do not think the district is especially liable to rust.

254. By Mr. PADBURY: How far is this place from the railway survey?—Three miles. We plough four inches deep with the disc plough.