known dog is carrying a reward of ten guineas today. I think it would be a good idea if, when the Agricultural Bank is advancing on building, it was to stipulate and enforce the provision of spouting and tanks. The bat house can be erected cheaply, and is the most comfortable house in a warm climate. It should be well tied in the building to prevent cracking. We have no complaints about railway freights since the Government took over the line. All the farmers free from poison are keeping sheep. We have had a bit of a struggle during the last few years, but it was owing to the combined effects of drought and rust. There is no Crown land left unselected in this district. The Midland Company has some mixed country further north. To make a decent living in this district a man should hold not less than 2,000 acres.

                                                               ( The witness retired.)

                                                                        ----------------

EDWARD LUDEMANN, FARMER, Wattening, sworn and examined :

9627. To Mr. PAYNTER : I have had 35 years' experience of farming, including 11 years in this State. Previously I was in Victoria. I hold just on 1,100 acres from the Government. I have had it 11 years. I paid £1 for 475 acres and 22s. 6d. for 595. I have 800 acres cleared, the entire holding being fenced and subdivided into 10 paddocks. The water supply consists of a permanent well. I have a brick house, with stables and machinery shed of iron. I have 15 working horses, 24 altogether, with eight foals. There are 330 sheep, 25 pigs, three cows, and four young ones, and 30 head of poultry. I intend to put in 340 acres this year, of which 200 is fallow. My average yield for the last five years, including the drought year, has been 17 bushels, the highest being 24 bushels in 1912. I use a bushel of seed and 52 pounds of super. The improved value of my land I estimate at £7 per acre. The year before war broke out 400 acres of unimproved land equal to my own was sold at £5 per acre. I am half a mile from the railway. I had £500 capital when I started.

9628. To Mr. VENN : I think this will eventually be a dairying district carrying a large number of cows. I have 350 ewes on 1,100 acres. It would carry more than that if I did not crop it. Clearing costs 22s 6d. when one can get the labour.

9629. To Mr. PAYNTER : Farmers here are suffering in respect of the handling of their wheat. I would like to see the bag system done away with. Wheat growing alone will pay well. I estimate the putting in and taking off a crop at 31s. 8d., including interest and depreciation. It includes carting out of the field but not to the station. The rainfall is 18 inches.

                                          ( The witness retired. )
                                                 -------------------

RICHARD FLETCHER THACKRAY, Farmer, Bolgart, sworn and examined :

9630. To Mr. PAYNTER : I manage for J. R. Cook, who resides in Victoria, and I am farming on my own account also. Speaking on behalf of Mr. Cook, we have a 4,000 - acre property to the south west. It is freehold. All is fenced, 2,000 acres are cleared ; there are 12 paddocks. We have a permanent water supply and we are equipped with all necessary buildings, machinery and plant. We have 14 draught horses, 2,000 sheep, including 1,500 breeding ewes, 130 pigs and 2 cows for milking. We crop 500 acres. We endeavour to get it all fallow. We sow from three - quarters to one bushel of seed and 60 pounds of super. I have been managing the property for four years. The average yield in 1913 was 24 bushels, but in 1914, the year of the drought, we just about got our seed back. Owing to the war Mr. Cook determined to put in additional crop and so we cropped 900 acres. The rust affected it badly and the return was only eight bushels. Last year we averaged 16 bushels. The property is four miles from the railway.

9631. To Mr. VENN : We cannot carry 2,000 sheep all the year round. This year I took the ewes back on sand plain country on the Midland. I brought them in on the 1st June to lamb. There are 2,000 on the property now with ample feed. The carrying of cleared land is easily one sheep to two acres. We are not troubled with dingoes. This year we lost two sheep, and the dingo responsible has been caught.

9632. To Mr. PAYNTER : I consider the property worth close on £4 per acre. The cost of clearing is from 15s. to £1. We have some white gum country the clearing of which will cost from £1 to 25s. The railway rates are too high. No other part of the community is burdened as we are. We have to pay railway both ways. The interest on the cost of railway construction should be met by the whole community, leaving only the running coasts for the local people to pay. The burden of the capital cost should be met by an unimproved land tax throughout the State.

9633. To Mr. VENN : I believe we shall go in for dairying much more than we do at present, but I think the summer too long for an ideal dairying district. I do not think fodder crops would be a payable proposition with stock at its present price. The fodder crops are too risky. Generally speaking, water is too hard to get in this district. People here are only just beginning to go in for dams. Many have spent much money in trying to get a water supply by sinking. In the past they have not troubled to put down a dam notwithstanding the existence of good catchments. On our property we have an abundant supply within 18 inches of the surface. We have a soak that will carry 1,000 sheep right through the summer.

9634. To Mr. PAYNTER : Our cost of putting in and taking off is fully 30s. It would be a splendid thing to continue the wheat pool, so long as the producer is adequately represented on the pool. It would assure us a fair price for our produce. At present if we have a failure our whole year's work is practically thrown away, whereas if there were some means of fixing a payable price to the farmer, he would get over a good many of the present difficulties.

                                            ( The witness retired.)

The Commission adjourned.