7933-4. By Mr PAYNTER: What is the cost of clearing?—One pound and upwards for forest country. At Least that was the price, but no doubt it had gone up of late on account of the altered conditions produced by the war.

(The witness retired.) —————————

HARRY HOWSE, Erikin, sworn and examined:

7935. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been in this district?—Six years. I hold 884 acres and my son about 600, between us about 1,500 acres in all. My son's land cost 20s. and mine 16s. I have 90 acres of third class-land and my son has 30. In all there are 1,400 acres of first-class, situated 3½ miles from a railway. Five hundred acres are fenced on my land and 400 on my son's. On the two blocks there are 700 acres cleared. We have a dam eight feet deep and 1,300 yards capacity, forming a permanent supply with a good catchment. It cost 1s. 8d. a yard to put down. We struck salt water at about nine feet, and we struck salt in several bores in addition. I am a married man with one daughter of school age, but the school is seven or eight miles distant. Our nearest doctor is at Kellerberrin, 30 miles away. I have an iron and hessian house, bush stables, sheds for machinery, a full set of implements, nine working horses, four cows, a bull, and seven pigs. When I started I had £500 capital. I put in 10 years in Canada, and previously had been brought up in the Old Country to farming. I borrowed from the Agricultural Bank for the construction of the dam and for clearing £900. I have not been on the I.A.B. I have no other debts.

7936. By Mr PAYNTER: What area do you crop?—Only about 400 acres. We fallow about 200 acres every year, and use 70 to 85lbs. of super., and 50lbs. of Gluyas, or 60lbs. of Alpha for seed. I find that Alpha, being bigger seed, takes more. Last year I got 35 bushels off 70 acres. My average was 21 bushels; this year it is 15. To pay expenses of putting in and taking off the crop would amount to about 11 bushels. I use a five furrow plough with eight horses, and do between five and six acres a day. I also have a 20-tyne cultivator, and cultivate 15 acres of heavy clay land. We have a 15-drill, which does from 17 to 20 acres. I use harrows, four leaves, and do 40 to 50 acres. I have a Massey-Harris reaper and thrasher, but it is not too good, being too light for rough ground, although it may be all right in smooth ground. That does 10 acres a day. I believe in fallow. I plough anything up to eight inches, the first ploughing being generally six inches. In Canada, if we go too deep, too much sour land is turned up. The proper practice is, I believe, to plough deeper each year until you reach nine inches. So far as the tariff is concerned, I consider that the tax on machinery should be considerably lessened. I understand there is no tariff on the binder, still the agents put it on to us. In Canada it costs 130 dollars for a 6ft. binder. Wages are higher in Canada, but the men do more work. The land there is more thickly settled than it is here. The average size of a farm is from 300 to 500 acres. A man who takes up a homestead usually increases it to 320 acres. I am doubtful as to the effects of bulk handling in this country. Here we have to handle the wheat two or three times, as well as a certain number of bags, and under the conditions here I do not think it would be helpful. The grain there is weighed and dropped into a pit, and the elevator is working all the time. One man can take in two or three thousand bushels a day. Except with a stripper and a high bagger to put it into a wagon, there would be no advantage in it. Last year the crops suffered from a green fly, particularly the Alpha. They ate it at the first joint. Grasshoppers were bad, and the rabbits are getting worse. We keep pigs for our own use, but I do not find poultry raising payable because the eggs get smashed on the railway. I do not employ labour, and I work all hours. A thousand acres ought to be enough to a man in this district, and he should handle 300 acres annually. I think the farmers too should co-operate. I consider that once the settler has cleared land he has produced an asset for the Government for ever, and therefore his rent should be very light. Another thing the early settler should be provided with a good house, as it is necessary to be comfortable at home. The bush is not too bright a place to bring a woman to in any case. My wife has not been able to leave the farm and go to Perth for a change for the last six years. There is not doubt that this is beautiful country with the finest climate in the world, and if the conditions of farming were easier, no place could be better. The prospects are very good here too. My own chances are quite on the bright side, although just now we may be passing through a dark cycle of time. The dogs are a nuisance here though, but at the best paying line of all. Unfortunately, however, wire is unprocurable at the present time.

7937. By the CHAIRMAN: Have you anything that you wish to put before us?—We are very badly in want of a school. It costs me £75 to £80 a year to educate my girl owing to there being none here.

7938. You should keep on hammering at the Education Department?—Dairying is not possible here owing to the shortness of water. We have done very well with butter at the shows here. Pigs are not payable unless you are in a position to ship a truck load at a time. Although butter is worth 1s. 10d. in Perth, locally it only brings 1s.

(The witness retired) —————————

WILLIAM ALEXANDER COOK, Farmer, Ulakine, sworn and examined:

7939. By the CHAIRMAN: How long have you been in this district?—Six years. I have had 30 years' previous experience of farming in this State and in the Gladstone district of South Australia, also at Three Springs. I hold 2,000 acres of land; none of it is first class, it is all second class. The price of it is 16s. down to 6s. for sand plain and mixed country, what we call wild almond country. I have no fencing but I have cleared 800 acres at the cost of about 10s. It has been all rolled. I have a well and a windmill. The former is 85ft. deep and yields a good supply of stock water. I have a full