sign-in
Home
/
Part 7
/
Page 504
Part 7
Page 504
image 69 of 100
If you need a symbol, fraction or a wider dash please highlight, copy (Ctrl C) and paste (Ctrl V): £ — ¼ ½ ¾ ⅓ ⅔ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞ ⊚ 🡹 /|\
grow well but not during the summer. We have found pig raising satisfactory, if only we could get a price for our pigs. We are offered only 6d. a dozen for our eggs, but that does pay. The average rate of wages is 30s. to 35s. a week and keep but the class of labour is not satisfactory. My men never put in more than eight hours and never have done so since I have been farming. That is taking the average over 12 months. A man in this district should not hold less than 1,000 acres and should have 600 acres cleared before he purchases his plant and machinery. A man with a team can do 400 acres, with a little help at harvest time. Co-operation could be applied to farming, but the farmers cannot be bought together and the principle cannot be applied at the present time. The price of land is far too high. It should not be more than 10s. and some of it is worth nothing. I do not think that land should be forced on a man. Thousands of pounds are spent uselessly in fencing in poison and wallabies. When farmers are in a better position to do so they can use their fencing for sheep. 8382. By Mr. VENN : What are the possibilities of dairying?—They are good here with silos, but the labour conditions will not permit of it. The cows do not milk as long as in the South-West. I do not think farmers should go in for sheep raising, but with 1,000 acres a man should have a few hundred sheep to flatten and sell. 8383. By the CHAIRMAN : What are your annual expenses to run your farm?—I suppose our gross proceeds would be £500 a year. Last year it was not so much. If you get about £100 out of that for yourself, it is as much as you wold get. Wheat should be a standard value. If the price of wheat was fixed things would be better all round and all our difficulties would be relieved. The railway freights are out of all reason. If I want a case of oil which weighs three quarters of a cwt., I have to pay 6s. 6d. freight. That is outrageous. The minimum rate is £5 3s. per ton. A friend of mine wanted a plough and a corn crusher and he had to pay the minimum on the plough although the two together did not weigh a ton. (The witness retired.) EDWARD JAMES COADE (Coade & Tinsdale), Farmer, Wickepin, sworn and examined : 8384. By the CHAIRMAN : How long have you been in this district ?—Since 1906. I had no previous experience of farming : I was a draper. We hold 4,500 acres, 3,000 acres of first class and the balance second class. The price of the land is 10s. an acre. The property is two miles from the railway and is all fenced and netted in. There are 11 paddocks in addition. We have 1,400 acres cleared. The water supply is permanent soaks and wells. There are two houses on the land, machinery sheds, stables, etc., a full set on implements, 12 working horses, and 15 young horses, six head of cattle, and 750 sheep. We have 314 acres in crop going 14 bushels. We started with £8,000 capital and have no liabilities except those that are current. 8385. By Mr. PAYNTER : How many acres are fallowed ?—Two hundred. We fallow whenever it is wet enough. Between ploughing and seeding we cultivate twice. Federation is the best seed we have. We sow 60lbs. to the acre and we pickle and grade the seed. We have had no disease whatever. We use 80lbs. of super. We have a three, four, and five-furrow plough and do five acres a day. We have a 19 cultivator that does 18 acres, and a 17-drill that does 15 acres, but we have no harrows. We use a T-bar roller. We have a Sunshine and State harvester, 5ft. combs, and each does eight acres a day. Personally I do not approve of larger implements or teams as we have found that a four-furrow is large enough. Labour is too scarce to enable us to get more crop in. It is the smallest we have had for sometime. we usually crop at least 450 acres. So far the tariff is concerned we pay too much for machinery, and I am in favour of a preferential tariff. To put in and take off a crop cost, say, 30s. an acre; clearing costs £1 an acre after it has first been ringbarked. The bulk of our country is salmon gum. I favour bulk handling as it would save bags. No man should have less than 2,000 acres in this district and 600 acres should be cleared before he purchases either machinery or horses. A man should be able to do 250 acres by himself. Co-operation is advantageous but farmers are hard to get together and harder still to handle. So far as the land laws are concerned , I consider that 10s. is ample for the best of our land. Second class land should be cheaper, in fact, if one got it for nothing, subject to improvement conditions, it would be on a fair basis. 8386. By Mr VENN : Do you run sheep ?—I have had 1,000 sheep, but that is as many as anyone can carry here. I do not think that this will be a dairying district. It must be remembered that every settler here is not as well off as we were. The main thing to be considered is the water problem. To make wheat pay we have to have guarantee of the price of wheat; 3s. is no good. It costs that to produce it. Labour is hard to get and at the best of times men are shifting about. If we are going to grow wheat, and if a fair price is offered for it guaranteed, there will be a larger area under wheat crop. If I was granted 4s. a bushel I would put in 600 acres. If it had not been for our wool we would not have been able to pay our expenses all along. We buy and store all the butter that the farmers will bring into us, and also skins, but some of the farmers know how to make butter and others do not. 8387. By the CHAIRMAN : What do you think of the prospects of the —I think it is as good a district as any in Western Australia, although we have not made money out of it as yet. Until Four years ago we were working our land from Perth. I think that many people here know all about farming, and do not want any assistance from the agricultural departmental experts. The conditions here are different from those in other places. I have no fault to find with the experts of the Agricultural Department, and I think that there could be obtained the best advice if the farmers like to ask for it. It seems hard that the lumbers in Fremantle charge 4s. an hour to handle our wheat while our average cockey does not get 6d. an hour. I think the Agricultural Department look after the industry very well. Freights are far too high, but the farmer pays more than his fair proportion. Personally I think the Agricultural Department have done well for the farmer. (The witness retired.)
Save edits
prev
|
next
|
all images
|
history