ance, take the north of grass patch; there is excellent looking country there, but during the time I was down there I did not see a handful of grass on it. It makes you think. take the country between salmon gums and Norseman. It is an awful looking proposition. I am not sure whether rain ever falls there at all. We went all up to the North and came down to fitzgerald's peak, and went out East from grass patch. It was, I think, about the end of September. if the country will not grow wheat, it is pity ; if it will grow wheat, it is pity it is not cultivated.

(The witness retired.)

FRANK VAUGHAN COOKE, Farmer, grass Valley, near Northam, sworn and examined :

567. By the CHAIRMAN : as a trustee of the agricultural bank, I understand you visited the mallee belt and Esperance lands early this year ?—that is so

.568. And you wrote a report ?—Yes.

569. We wish to question you on one or to points of that report. Did you make any examination of the coast line ?—Only a casual inspection. We went to see the mallee belt more particularly.

570. Did you read Mr. Mann's report before you visited the district?—No.

571. you frequently in your report refer to the salinity of the soil ?—Yes.

572. You apparently regarded mr. Mann's .05 as the standard universally adopted in Australia ?—That is all we can do.

573. You did not take it that it that Mr. Mann's .05 was merely a tentative standard adopted for the purpose of that report ?—I did not take it as that. I took it as the standard of Australian salinity as I read it.

574. And you did not take it as a standard?▬I hardly know what you mean. I took it as the standard which he worked on as an analyst of Australian soils.

575. You took it as final?▬Yes; we took it as an unsafe limit of salt. That is from his report.

576. Do you consider it justifiable to condemn that district on Mr Mann's assumption then?▬I cannot say on his assumption. I speak more particularly on the results achieved. I have no bias in regard to this matter. I inspected this district with Mr Richardson as a trustee of the bank, purely to ascertain the security for the bank. I had followed the Esperance question for a long time. I have studied the wheat lands of Western Australia for 20 years, and with the results coming from the Esperance lands I wanted to find out the reason why, and the only reason I came to was that there must be something wrong, and when I saw the report it bore out my suspicions that there was too much salt. When we saw the report referring to the .05 we took it that it had something to do with the bad results. The results during the last four or five years have not been profitable from a farming point of view.

577. You stated in your report that the land was deficient in phosphoric acid. and that it must be built up with phosphates. Does this apply to all lands in Western Australia?▬Generally. One farm I visited in the North-West of Grass Patch, we saw where the drill had not sown the phosphate and from my experience with super we know that without super you get a fair result, but on this land the drill strip that was missed was comparatively like our sand plain.

578. I pressure you are conversant with the rainfall records?▬Yes.

579. Have you any knowledge of the mallee lands in the other States?▬None.

580. Did it not occur to you from the reports of this mallee land in the Esperance district that it was similar to the mallee land in South Australia, Pineroo and Lamaroo?▬I have heard it reported so. One farmer from the Eastern mallee country said that he went there because te land looked better than land which his grandparents settled on in the Wimmera. A man named Bretag, who is settled near Scadden, said that the land did not come up to his expectations, and certainly from the look of the cultivation and the crop e was perfectly correct. I have no experience of the Eastern mallee lands. I speak only of Western Australian mallee ands, and we have these lands in different parts of this State. Another point that is cropping up in regard to the bank work is that settlers in the Ongerup district on similar country are not successful. they are failing on it.

581. Do you not think there is reason to hope that the mallee lands here will eventually prove to be as good wheat lands as in South Australia?▬It is a case of proving. I can only speak of my knowledge of West Australian lands, and the second class and third class lands are not successful propositions anywhere, and the general run of it can only be classed as second class land. That is my experience. Our farmers have not made a success on that land.

582. It seems that it takes four or five years cultivation to get rid of the stumps and suckers?▬I believe so.

583. You could hardly expect to grow a good cop with these suckers and stumps?▬On the land in the Eastern States they used to do it. They used to roll the mallee down and burn it. In the pre-super days they used to roll it down and burn it. and in favourable year they used to get a good crop of wheat. I have worked mallee land in the Tammin district, and there I have a five-bag crop of wheat growing. It would have been a better crop but for the hot spell in September.

584. Have you made any inquiries into the quantity of super and seed put in per acre on the mallee by the Esperance farmers?—I only know what the farmers have told me themselves. Some of them have put in 451lbs of wheat and 75 lbs of super.

585. The general average of super is somewhere about 50 to 56 lbs?—That may be so.

586. What quantity of super do you generally use on your own farming lands?—Generally a bushel of wheat and 70lbs of super.

587. Have you ever used more?—On the lighter land, the sand plain, I use 100lbs of super. I find that the country responds very well to that.

588. By Mr PADBURY: You say that on the mallee lands in Western Australia a good many farmers are failing. Is that not the case also with other than mallee country?— There have been failures in a great many districts. The failure of clients