on the surface, and I did so. When I got on to good land I fallowed deeply and got good results. I put tanks down and little scoop holes. We had to condense water there for the first three years until I succeeded with the big tank.

775. Do you regard the Grass Patch selection of 3,700 acres as typical of the mallee country; was it selected for any special reason?—It was selected for farming purposes. I took up the 700 acres. A horse had got away and I tracked him down, and in doing so I came on a nice open flat of 200 acres with strong timber country around it. That is what they call North Patch.

775a. Do you consider Grass Patch typical?▬Yes, I do not know that there is any difference between it and the surrounding country, except that it was selected for its patches of open grass country, about 250 acres in all.

776. You grew several very good crops at North Patch?▬Yes. The syndicate sold out to a limited company in London three or four years afterwards. The company appointed a local director who know nothing of farming. I refused to work with him or to be responsible for any money he might spend. In consequence of this, the company removed him and afterwards I had the whole responsibility until the place was sold.

777. Was the result of the farming operations satisfactory to the company?▬ We just paid expenses; there was no profit. Instead of our getting £13 a ton for chaff, it came down to £10, and as it was costing us £5 to cart it to Norseman our net return was only £5 per ton. I recommended the company to go in for sheep, for I could not show a profit on hay and chaff alone.

778. You did not go in for sinking dams extensively?▬No.

779. The water supply was difficult for you?▬Yes, until I put down the big tank and conserved the rain water falling on the roofs of the buildings.

780. During your term there, were the seasons fairly uniform and the rainfall sufficient?▬For the last four years we had an average of 15 or 16 inches. In two of those years we had 19 inches. Our lowest was 12 inches.

781. Did the rain fall at the right periods for the growth of crops?▬We got the biggest fall in the summer.

782. You sent some soil samples to Professor Lowrie for analysis. Have you those results?▬I do not know where they are. They were something similar to the result of Mr Mann's analyses. There would not be much difference. From personal experience I know that there is as much salt around Beverley as there is at Grass Patch.

783. You selected land at Circle Valley?—Yes, a thousand acres.

784. You disposed of that to Moore?—Yes, it was no good tome without a railway. I almost gave it to him.

785. Do you think that, given a railway, that land would open up well for farming?—yes.

786. What part of the mallee in South Australia did you have experience of ?▬Only just selections that I took up around my run to protect ourselves. I was grazing there on good land, but was not seriously farming on the mallee. I put in a crop, but did not harvest it. The country grew good grass after cultivation, capable of keeping a sheep to the acre. That was near Bordertown.

787. By Mr PADBURY: Were there any stock on the place before the lot you have mentioned?▬Not that I know of. Dempster Bros. used to go around that way with their sheep occasionally.

788. Was there any more grass about that part than about other parts?▬Not that I know of. There were patches at the 30-Mile.

789. You are satisfied from your experience that the other parts of the mallee are just as suitable as Grss Patch?▬Yes, at the 32-Mile there were even better patches than at Grass Patch.

790. By Mr McDONALD: You say the first crop you grew at Grass Patch was a failure?▬Yes.

791. What were the next two or three like?▬The second went about a ton to the acre. I carried out an experiment with stable manure, cultivating two adjoining acres, one with and the other without manure. The result was 7 cwt. from the land without manure and 21 cwt. from the manured land. In consequence, I obtained authority for using artificial manures. I went to Adelaide and, after consultation with Professor Lowrie, I got the necessary manures. One must use manure in that country.

792. Was it a picked spot where you carried out this two-acre experiment?▬It was open land, free from mallee shoots, but t was not the best of the land, in fact was not as good as mallee land.

793. How do you account for the settlers down there having poor crops?▬I can understand it if they do not use manure or stock their land.

794. They are using manure?▬Then they should have crops.

795. They are using a light dressing of about 50 lbs?▬That is no good.

796. They are also using half a bushel of seed?▬What would one expect from such an amount of seed and super?

797. Did you find the mallee shoots troublesome?▬Yes, for the first year.

798. For how many years were they troublesome?▬We got rid of them in about the third year. The greatest expense was in getting down the stumps level with the ground in order to get all the hay possible off. One inch at the bottom of a crop is worth two at the top. I scraped the ground so far as I could. When we got rid of the stumps we got more hay to the acres.

799. You grew an exceptionally good crop in one year?▬That was the last year I was there. I did not see it taken off. The man who bought the place paid for it out of that crop and had a little surplus.

800. It takes two or three years to get ride of the mallee suckers?▬Yes.

801. Until that is done you would not expect to get a payable crop?▬It all depends on the soil. For the first two years the shoots are bad. Owing to the stumps I could not get the machines down low enough with safety.

802. By Mr PADBURY: What amount of seed did you use when you got this extra good crop?▬I sowed a bushel on the good land, and an extra quarter bushel on the light land. That was for hay.

803. Did you use super?▬I used a hundredweight of Thomas's phosphate, but it did not do so well, and 70lbs. to 80 lbs. of the other.