in regard to bags, would reduce expenses. With bulk handling I think the grain should be bagged and tipped into the trucks, and the bags could be brought back to the farm and used again. The import duties are very high, and I think the farmer's machinery should come in quite free of duty. If my liabilities were funded and an extended term given for repayment I think I could finance myself from the proceeds of my own cropping if the repayments were spread over 10 years. Nevertheless, the present scheme seems to me to be working well.

7020. To Mr. PAYNTER: Last year I had rust. I had a little before that but it was not serious. I have pickled my wheat, and grade it. I always grow my own vegetables, and I feed pigs on wheat. I have 200 or 300 fowls which are very profitable. When I employ a man I pay him about 30s. a week and his keep. A man on his own with mixed farming ought to be able to make a living on 1,000 acres. With a little help at harvest time and one team he should be able to do 300 acres annually. But, of course, he would be going constantly. Co-operation among farmers would be a great advantage, and I think the system could be brought about by the Farmers' Co-operative Union. I believe it will be put into operation very shortly. I consider that 15s. is a reasonable price for my land.

7021. To Mr. VENN: I have had sheep ever since I have been here, and they got very fat indeed. A five or six months' lamb will go 60lbs. I showed some lambs at the Geraldton show, a six months' Shropshire, which went 42lbs. They ought to average 35lbs, at six months. The sheep pay best. I have also a couple of cows but they are all poor quality. I think dairying could be improved if we had a good bull available, but there are none at the State farm where you would expect to find them. I might point out that we are very short of building timber in this district and some of us were wondering whether we could procure anything in the shape of waster timber from the State sawmills. The freight is killing from Perth. The first quality timber in Geraldton is too high in price, but we ought to be able to get face cuts in truck lots, and we should be glad if the Commission could do anything for us in that direction and if they could manage to have the freight reduced so as to relieve the situation. There ought to be cheaper freights on waste timber coming from the State sawmills.

(The witness retired.)

WILLIAM TETLOW, Farmer, Nabawa, sworn and examined:

7022. To the CHAIRMAN: I have been here since 1911 and hold 778 acres. I had no previous experience of farming. I was contracting. My property is on the Bowes repurchased estate, and 550 acres are fit for cultivation. The price of the land is £2 2s. and the improvements consist of a six-wire fence half way round and the other half netting. That was all the improvements on the property. There is 4½ miles cartage to the railway. I have 450 acres cleared. My boundary is fenced and there are eight divisional fences. The water is good. I am a married man with three children but none of them are of school age. My house is of wood and iron. I have started building a stable of jam posts and straw roof. I have no shed for my implements. I have a harvester but it is worn out. I applied last year to the I.A.B. for one but they would not grant it, and I lost 500 bags throught that. I have a plough and drill but no cultivator. I borrowed a stripper. I have eight working horses on the farm and I own three horses myself. I have 186 ewes and lambs. When I started I had £300 capital and I got £500 from the Agricultural Bank. Last year I had assistance from the I.A.B., £8 per month. This year I have been receiving £11 14s. a month; all told I should owe about £400. There are outside debts of £300 or £400.

7023. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have 275 acres under crop but no fallow. I have fallowed for the coming year. The highest yield I have had was 22 bushels over 180 acres in 1913. I expect this year it will go six bushels. The low average this year is due to the heat. I applied for super but I did not get it until the 9th June and it came too late to be of any use. I applied for it in May and it was the 12th June before I started to put in. I was messed up by the I.A.B. There was a fire at my place and they said that I should have got the insurance.

7024. By the CHAIRMAN: Why did you leave it so late as May to apply for super?—I spoke to Mr. Drew about it when he was stopping here and he attended to it for me.

7025. To Mr. CLARKSON: It would take 11 or 12 bushels to pay the expenses of putting in and taking off a crop. I consider that farmers' implements should come into the State free of duty.

7026. If your liabilities were funded and a period of, say, 10 years granted in which to repay your indebtedness, do you think you would be able to finance yourself for the future?—Yes, and I should much prefer that to the present method.

7027. To Mr. PAYNTER: A man in this district should hold 1,000 acres and he should crop 300 acres single handed. Co-operation would be of great advantage to the farmers, but so far as land laws and land prices are concerned, I do not think the latter are reasonable. In fact, one half the price paid for the Bowes area, if a man is to make a success of it, would be quite sufficient to pay. It costs me £124 per annum for rent alone, but I could carry another 200 sheep if I could get hold of them. I have had my sheep for three years but I did not start with enough of them. It takes all the increase from them to keep me going. Still, I could carry them through a drought. My property would carry 400 sheep easily or a sheep to two acres, and they would feed on the stubble as well. I would not, of course, put in more than 300 acres of crop. I had a paddock of 60 acres with 400 sheep on it through the winter. Some of the sheep belonged to my neighbours.

(The witness retired.)