FRIDAY, 15th DECEMBER, 1916.

(At Perth.)

Present:

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

ALEXANDER ROBERT RICHARDSON, Pastoralist and Farmer, a Trustee of the Agricultural Bank, affirmed and examined:

638. By the CHAIRMAN: I believe you visited the Esperance mallee lands this year?— Yes, in March.

639. You reported on the matter with one of the other trustees who accompanied you?— Yes.

640. Did you make an inspection of the coast lands surrounding Esperance?— No, we were not asked to do so, and we did not think it came within the scope of our visit of inspection.

641. Did you read Mr. Mann's report before the visiting district?— Not before.

642. You refer to the salinity of the soil. From your observations did you notice anything in the nature of salt in the soil?— Distinctly so.

643. When you made your report, did you regard Mr. Mann's standard of .05 as the standard universally adopted?— Not at all.

644. You have read Mr. Mann's concluding paragraph that .05 was merely tentatively adopted for the purpose of the report?— I did not understand it that way; I gathered that after a good deal of consideration he decided to adopt that as a reliable standard and one that had been accepted by Victoria, if not the other Eastern States, as the limit of tolerance of the wheat plant.

645. You did not ascertain whether that applied to the salt in the form of chlorides or carbonates?— We were not agricultural chemists and I thought it would be presumption to attempt to form an opinion, and we took as our guide the Government analytical chemist, Mr. Mann.

646. Do you consider it justifiable to condemn the district on Mr. Mann's assumptions?— Not on those alone, and I did not either.

647. You stated in your report that the mallee land was deficient in phosphates acid and would require to be built up with phosphates; does that not apply to all Western Australian lands?— Not to the same degree.

648. I presume you are conversant with the rainfall records?— We took a good deal of trouble to elicit them.

649. Are you aware that the district enjoys a much better average than places like Kellerberrin and Merredin?— That is one favourable feature of the district up to within 60 miles of the coast when it begins to tail off to the point of danger for wheat growing, that is, about 10 inches. Even to Norseman the records give the average as 10 inches.

650. Have you any knowledge of the mallee lands of the other States?— Only a casual knowledge from travelling about and always asking questions. At Esperance we gathered some of the knowledge for purposes of comparison from the discussions with settlers who had had experience of the mallee lands of the Eastern States.

651. Do you remember who those settlers were?— I do not remember them at all, but there was one, a German man named Bretag. I discussed the point with him, and he stated definitely that he considered the Esperance mallee lands were inferior to the mallee lands in South Australia, which he had cultivated. I asked him what grounds he had for the assertion, and he replied that the mallee lands of South Australia would yield a decent crop without manures, while the Esperance lands would yield little or nothing without manure. I think I mentioned that in my report.

652. Did Bretag's land strike you as being of average quality or not good?— I should say it was quite the average of the mallee lands, but not quite a good average of the mallee lands in process of cultivation. We thought he had not selected one of the best spots and told him so. He said he had been there four or five years and that when he took up the land it appeared to be as good as the average land there.

653. Have you made any enquiries relative to the methods of cultivation in the South Australian mallee lands?— Not specially.

654. Have you heard that the mallee settlement in it's early days in South Australia and Victoria was in practical failure?— The mallee lands in Victoria were not at first successful, but that was owing to the rainfall.

655. Does the same thing apply to South Australia?— I think so. What was of more importance was the introduction of phosphates, which pushed the crop forward by about three weeks, and so escaped the hot winds they get early in September. The phosphates had the result of carrying the crop beyond the danger period. The same thing applies to Kellerberrin in this State.

656. We have some records of rainfall in the South Australian mallee?— These records are not averaged up for the growing season. However, the rainfall apparently is very decent for wheat growing, according to these records. A good deal of