G. II SMITH.]

87

D.—4.

cattle, 623 pigs, 170 horses. Approximately, there are 13,892 acres in grass, currying what is equivalent to 25,423 sheep, or almost two sheep per acre. Ihe freight to our nearest port— Mangapai—runs from 10s. to 12s. Gd. per ton. The cartage from Mangapai to this hall is £1 per ton in summer and £1 10s. in winter. It has been stated that the cartage to some of the holdings here, away from the main road, to places twenty miles from the port, hag been as much as £3 10s. per ton. Dealing with the large holdings in this district, there are three oi' upwards of 2,000 acres, the largest being a little over 2,000 acres. There are eight of 1,000 acres, and twenty-one of 500 acres. The areas of upwards of 100 acres total 17,425 acres. That area would cut up into eighty-seven farms of about 200 acres or fifty-eight farms of about 300 acres. Inline diately adjoining Waikiekie Road District there is one estate of 12.000 acres — the Omano Block— the owner of which is Mr. Riddell. That block would cut up into sixty farms of '200 acres each, or forty farms of 300 acres each. 3. Mr. Stall-worthy.] Would 200-acre farms lie sufficient for the purpose of close settlement ! —Some farmers consider they could do well at dairying mi that area. One man told me only this morning that he has nnt 200 acres, and is doing very well indeed. 4. What is your nearest distance to the Wairoa River? — ] could not say. 5. You gave us the number of sheep and cattle tin- land here could carry as equivalent to two sheep to the acre: is that what it is carrying now?— Yes, within the last three weeks. G. Mr. Steadman.] On what basis have you worked out the calculation of two sheep to the acre? How many sheep to one beast .'— A beast is equal to four sheep and a horse to five sheep. 7. Is not that rather large.' We were told in another place that three sheep to one beast was the proper equivalent?— The figures I have given are what the farmers here reckon—one beast to four sheep and one horse to five sheep. Jameb Gilbert Wabd examined. (No. 54.) 1. The Chairman.] Where do you reside?- At Waikiekie. \ am tin- manager of the dairy factory here, and I have been eight months in the district. 2. Do you wish to make a statement to the Commission as to the matter we are inquiring into?—My reason for advocating one route over another is based entirely on my observations in connection with the dairying industry of this district. I have travelled through to within a few miles of MoCarroll's Gap, along both the eastern and western routes, and the Waikiekie-Gap connection, and although I cannot say that I know every mile of the country, I know every chain of the land between McCarroll's Gap and east and west of the Tangihuas: and I am also convinced that there is one route only which will benefit this factory and make it one of the most flourishing in the north, while the other route will injure the factory and the dairying industry here. The factory here cost the settlers something over £2,000, the debt owing on it at present being about .£3OO. All this has been done since the factory first started, in the season of 1004-5. The earnings of the factory since that period I cannot give you exactly, but they have been about -£23,336. The number of suppliers at present is twenty-four. Within the area from which the butter-fat is coming there are six occupied farms not at present supplying us, but there is every probability that two of them will be sending in their supplies to us during next season. 3. Mr. Stead man .] What is the reason that they are not supplying?— One farmer has a fairly large area of land, and is carrying on a butchering business. In another ease the labour is not available at present, but I think it will be supplying before long. As to another man, I am not prepared! to say what his reasons are. In one case this season in this district, under present conditions, the man was making £1 ss. per cow per month for a herd of over twenty cows. In another instance where the land has been down twenty years in grass the returns for one of the best months was £1 3s. per cow per month for forty or fifty cows. If these farmers had facilities for getting manures and fertilizers to their places by rail they would be able to continue these returns for a much longer period during the season ; but at present they cannot do so, because the manures cost them too much to bring here. As to the number of farms into which the area of the district can be cut into, we have taken each farm individually, and not the whole area irrespective of boundaries. We have carefully worked out whether each area is suitable for subdivision, and the figures stated by Mr. Smith 1 agree with. All these holdings would not average more than five miles from the eastern or western routes. The land on the route lying to the east of the Tangihuas is in the same position to-day that it was in when the first settlers went in there about forty years ago—in fern and tea-tree : in fact, it is worse, on account of fires going through it year after year. I refer now to the country south-east of the Maungakaramea district and the Tangihuas. I advocate the construction of the line by the western route. There are no improvements on the eastern side of the line, with f he exception of one valley of good land taken up and held by some nien with money. All the improvements which have been made are on the land at the start of the eastern route, towards the Wairoa River. Land in standing bush forty years ago is being cut up, and I do not think there are any Crown lands in the whole lot worth speaking of. The improvements all lie to the west of the eastern route. lam not referring to the country north of the Tangihuas. With the exception of Waikiekie, which is the only settlement, this country has all been taken up in large holdings carrying stock, and suitable only for men who can afford to hold 2,000 or 3,000 acres. My reason for advocating the western route is because railway communication might prove a sufficient inducement to these holders to cut up their lands into small holdings, because I notice that wherever you have railway connection you have small holdings. The cattle-carrying oapacity of this part of the country is four acres to a cow, and over the whole district, within striking distance of this factory, the country would run 7.356 cows on a basis of four to the cow. That would mean an increase over the present