patronise the standard firms and pay reasonable prices, he will get fruit trees as true to name as it is possible for any nurseryman to supply, but no nurseryman can absolutely guarantee. He may have a man he is going to dismiss or who may have a grudge against him and that man will put a wrong label on a thousand budded stock and the nurseryman may never find it out. He will send the trees out believing them to be true and only find out years afterwards. With regard to seeds I think it is necessary we should have a Pure Seed Act,and there should be means whereby the buyer of seed can have his seed tested. Furthermore, all imported seeds should be tested as it is done in some places, both as to germination and as to purity.

11864. By Mr. PAYNTER: What standard of germination would you suggest?—I should think a 90 per cent.germination would be sufficient, but as a matter of fact it must vary because it is impossible to get a high percentage of germination in regard to some grass seeds. They must be harvested before they are ripe, and you will get some that are not mature. If you allow the seed to mature you lose the seed on the ground. I had some experience of collecting seed this year of Veldtgrass (Ehrhata), which is spreading round Guildford, and I found that if I did not get the seed while it appeared green, it dropped, and I lost it. The reply to the question is that the percentage needs to vary with the particular kind of seed.

11865. Would you favour it being grown under quarantine as a precaution against the introduction of weeds?—If you only grow it under quarantine you will never get the seed.

11866. If a man imported the seed he would have to grow it under supervision, and if there were found to be many weeds it would have to be destroyed?—I do not see that you can wisely prohibit the importation of seed.

11867. Unless it was true it might become noxious?—By an inspection of the seed you can pretty well tell under a microscope whether it is all right or not. You can tell the weed seed from the true seed that you want and any seed which is not pure can be rejected.

11868. You think the germination test would be sufficient?—No, the germination test is only one test; the purity test is done under the microscope. Girls sitting along the benches with microscopes can examine the seed and distinguish impurities when they get familiar with the different types.

11869. By the CHAIRMAN: What you mean is that if the seed is inspected for purity and germination when it lands, that should be a sufficient safe-guard, without quarantining it afterwards?—The seed must be imported and sown the same year. Some seed deteriorates 75 per cent, in value if it is kept the second year.

11870. By Mr. PAYNTER: Say the seed came from a foreign country, and it was passed on to the agriculturist to sow, and then if it was found to be composed of weeds mostly, the officer of the department would have it destroyed?—We cannot make any better provision than to have a laboratory for seed testing and inspection. All seed imported should be inspected and tested, whether it be an ounce packet, imported by a private individual, or tons by the seedsman.

11871. By the CHAIRMAN: The next question refers to seed potatoes. What steps should be taken to ensure supplies of seed potatoes?—I am not prepared to offer an opinion on that off hand. It is a difficult question, and as there are so many interests involved, and so many difficulties, I prefer to leave it.

11872. No new supplies of seed are available anywhere, and the restrictions imposed by the Agricultural Department mean practically that no one can import seed from outside. Under those circumstances the supply of seed is running out and the question is, what can be done to remedy that state of affairs?—I have been advocating and preaching and describing how to get pure good seed for years.I know men who have grown potatoes for 12 years on their own farms, but on different parts of their farms, and instead of the seed deteriorating, it has improved. That can be done by any man who has conditions for growing three crops a year, and it can be done by people combining and supplying each other in the different seasons.The whole question of the potato regulations requires careful examination, and to some extent drastic amendment. The regulations were framed under conditions which no longer exist, the principal object being to keep out Irish blight. Irish blight is everywhere in the State, and it would be wise at the present time to allow people much greater latitude with regard to table and seed potatoes.Most certainly we should be able to import seed of new and standard varieties, to be grown under inspection in the first year. All potatoes should be subject to inspection and if the inspection be thorough with regard to all things which can be noticed, and the crop is inspected whilst it is growing, there can be no reasonable risk.

11873. Growers have told us that various diseases are known to be in existence, but this morning we had a statement from an expert of the Agricultural Department that there were several clean districts in the State. Do you know of any?—I do not.There may be districts clean of one disease, but I do not know one that can be said to clean of Irish blight. Did your witness tell you where the districts were?

11874. He was vague? —The only man who could have told us is, unfortunately, now dead.

11875. With regard to the Harvey irrigation scheme, what do you know of that?—I visited Harvey first in 1904. The alluvial flats, and some of the deep red banks, came exactly within the category of what I have described as suitable orange land. When I saw at that time the clay lands being planted I said that if orange trees succeeded there, it would be an entirely new thing in regard to orange culture. Experience has proved what soils are suitable. There are portions of Harvey which are eminently adapted for orange culture, and there are none better in the State. But there are portions where there has never been a reasonable chance of oranges succeeding. A man coming here, as I did at that time, learnt of so many things happening in Western Australia, that one had to admit that anything might be possible.One's observation here was very different from the experience of the