They were sent on Friday, and on Monday we got a wire from Fremantle to say the pears were totally unfit for cold storage, because they were over ripe. Pears at 30 degrees would keep for a long time; at 60 degrees, the temperature of the louvred van, they would hold for four days; at 90 degrees, the temperature of the closed-in van, they commence to ripen immediately. They would ripen between here and Perth. Pears are easier to grow than apples, and are less subject to disease, while giving more cases per tree. Our milking cows give good returns. A fair average for seven or eight months from a selected cow would be 7lbs. of butter per week. On natural feed she would maintain that for only three months in the year, but with the addition of bran and oilcake to keep her warm she would be profitable. We find a ready market for our butter.

9829. By Mr. CLARKSON: Have you any suggestions to make as to what the State might do to assist the industry?—It would help the orchardists if we could get our fruit on the market at a more reasonable rate. The finding of a profitable market is the chief difficulty in fruit growing. Labour also is a serious question. We pay 30s. and 35s. and keep for a skilled man. On a 200-acre orchard we employ 10 man for packing .We pack through co-operative shed. We have had 15 men packing when there has been a rush. We can get labour, but not skilled labour. We have repeatedly trained boys only to find them clear off. A man on pruning does not work more than eight hours.

(The witness retired.)

THOMAS SKINNER, Carbarup, sworn and examined:

9830. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have been here about 28 years. I hold 1,465 acres. I had no previous experience. I have 38 acres of orchard. I grow only 25 acres of cereals, just sufficient for my own use. I run sheep. My holding carries 320 ewes and their lambs. I have seven horses and four cattle. I have two places, one on the railway and the other further back. The one on the line is practically all orchard and the other all sheep. There is more money and less work in sheep than in anything else. In the orchard I have principally apples. Stone fruits do well, but they are too far from the market. Twelve years ago I had experience with second-hand cases. It took a lot of work to make the cases, all more or less damaged, fit for market. Personally, I prefer new cases, even at difference in price. The whole difficulty for the fruit grower is in finding a profitable market. I must get 4s. 3d. per case for my apples to cover costs, exclusive of carting. The average price for the last four or five years has been about 5s. per case. I have tried growing artificial grasses.The ordinary trefoil is the best of all. Lucerne was no good with me. I have not tried subterranean clover. Paspalum seems to do well along the creeks.

9831. To Mr. PAYNTER: I have not tried drying fruit. A lot of our fruit goes to waste, but nobody in this district is drying their fruit, except for themselves. What they do dry seems to be satisfactory. I think why they do not dry is because they have had good prices for export, which keeps their hands pretty full. I think drying will be taken up when the markets become more restricted. The cost of clearing varies. I did contract clearing all round the district until I got enough money to start my own place. At Carbarup, and further east and north, clearing in the green state costs £5 per acre, whereas the average price of clearing in the green state would be £10 to £12 per acre. Given time, one could clear for a great deal less by ringing and keeping the suckers down. This would cost £7 per acre to the dept of 12 inches, and east and north one could clear for about £3 per acre, provided there is no undergrowth. Undergrowth will cost another £2 per acre. To make the reduction in the cost of clearing, the land would be required to be ringbarked and suckers kept down for about four years. Ring-barking costs 1s. 5d. Eighteen months later it would cost another 1s. 6d. to knock the suckers off. It would cost 10s. to grub scrub, and another 1s. 6d. 2½ years after ringing, or in all, about 14s. 6d. per acre. But there is the four years to wait. North and east the timber consists principally of white gum. West it is mostly jarrah and red gum, south it is all sorts of scrubby stuff. The white gum country is half jarrah. We use a winch machine with two or three blocks for green clearing. The cheapest way is to dig round the green bits in December, and in February burn the country up.

9832. To Mr. VENN: Merino sheep do best on the country before it is cultivated, but after cultivation, crossbreds, Shropshire, and Border Leicester. I do not go in for fat lambs. My own are merino. We get a good price for wool. Three years ago it was 1s. 2½d., two years ago it was 1s. 3½d., last year it went to the bottom of the sea, but I got 1s. 3d. everything in.

9833. By Mr. CLARKSON: Have you any suggestions to make for the betterment of the industry?—I certainly think that we ought to have louvred trucks for the fruit between here and Fremantle. Several growers have sent away pears in perfect condition, and they have arrived in very bad condition, owing to the heat of the trucks. I was a victim in this way a little while ago. When the fruit is put in a truck the truck is only half full, and the fruit gets knocked down on the way up. There is too much room for the loading. There should be some means of protecting the fruit against such rough treatment. It is a pity that we should have to pay so long a haulage on empty cases when there is ample jarrah in the district for case-making. If the Government would but give some assistance I think we could arrange for a co-operative mill for the manufacture of cases. The Government should construct the tramway to the Porongurups, so as to render practicable the erection of a mill, or better still, give us the Western railway out through the jarrah. I have seen very good country about the Gordon River. There is a concession granted on the Kalgoorlie line, namely, that as long as a truck is fully loaded it goes at truck rate, whereas the same concession is not made on the line to Perth.

(The witness retired.)

JOHANN BENJAMIN STEICKE, Orchardist, 17 miles east of Mt. Barker, sworn and examined:

9834. To Mr. CLARKSON: I have been here about nine years. I had previous experience at Katanning. I hold 600 acres. I have 10 acres in fruit. I have 70 acres cleared. I run 60 sheep, 18 cattle, five horses. My place could carry all the year round about 200 sheep. The cleared portion