William Thompson examined.

2178. What are you?—Nurseryman and seedsman.

2179. Apart from farming altogether?—Yes.

2180. Have you prepared a written statement for the Commission?—I have not.

2181. Has your experience been large in fruit-growing?—Seventeen years in the district of Stawell.

2183. Do you find that certain sorts thrive better in our district than others?—Yes.

2184. You heard the last witness, Mr. Nichol. Do the same sorts of apples and pears thrive with you which he indicated as being the best adapted for this district?—Yes, and much more so. We are not troubled with the cold as they are here; we have a much better district there than they have here to grow apples. Mostly the whole of the apples do well in our district.

2185. And does the peach thrive with you?—Yes.

2186. And the apricot?—Yes, they give good crops.

2187. And pears?—Yes, heavy crops.

2188. And mulberries?—I daresay you may have seen some pears exhibited in Adamson's shop in Collins-street, some time ago; they were grown at what we call the Swamp, eight miles beyond us.

2189. And the walnut?—The walnut does very well on Doctor's or Concongella Creek, three miles from us.

2190. Are any of the farmers or persons engaged in orchard culture in your district growing any other than the ordinary crops?—Oranges do very well.

2191. And the vine?—Yes.

2192. How many years' experience has there been of oranges?—Eight or nine.

2193. Are the trees in pretty good bearing?—Yes, they bear very well.

2194. Have you any idea what number of oranges a tree will bear?—Two hundred or three hundred.

2195. Is the quality good?—Very good; a little thick in the skin, but that will improve by age.

2196. Is the business of planting oranges increasing every year?—Yes.

2197. To any extent?—Not to a very large extent, but I have to order a little more every year from Sydney.

2198. Some few hundreds of trees every year are being planted?—Yes.

2199. Is the lemon grown?—Yes.

2200. Successfully?—Yes.

2201. Do you think that the district is suitable for growing oranges in large quantities?—I think so.

2202. Without irrigation?—They would be better for irrigation to a small extent. Of course the whole of the district is not suited to that, but a great portion of it is very well suited to the orange.

2203. Are the trees that have been planted irrigated?—No, in one part they are not. There are no means of irrigating them.

2204. Is the vine extensively cultivated?—Very.

2205. For fruit or for wine?—For both. There are the Great Western vineyards—I suppose you have often heard of them—and the Stawell Company has started a vineyard two years ago. I think they have 90 or 100 acres planted, and about ten acres of orchard, and, page 125 among other things, some oranges and lemons, and they

W. Thompson, continued, 18th June 1886.

are all doing very well. I may say that there are some thousands of acres round Stawell well adapted for the vine; it is, in fact, better adapted than the Great Western, for this reason, that we have less frost there than what they have at the Western. We stand higher, and it faces the north east. At Western it is cultivated principally for wine, and round us it is cultivated for the table.

2206. Is the fruit converted into raisins?—No; I dare say it may have been tried, but not to any great extent.

2207. Is the Zante currant, grown to any extent?—No.

2208. Have the raisins been successful?—Only on a very limited scale. It was only two or three bunches, so I cannot say much of it from a commercial point of view.

2209. Is the land suited for vines suited for wheat-growing?—Not much.

2210. Or any other kind of cereal crop?—For mangolds and other crops of that sort it is well adapted.

2211. Without manure?—With or without manure.

2212. What is the character of the land?—A finish clay.

2213. But you have a large quantity of land well suited for the growth of the vine, and not for any other industry?—The rises are suited to the vine, and the hollows between to the fruit trees.

2214. Is that similar to the soil upon which the Great Western is situated?—Yes, very similar.

2215. And better situated?—Yes.

2216. What quantity of wine is produced at the Great Western now? —I cannot say.

2217. Can you grow all sorts of nuts, such as almonds and walnuts?—Yes, almonds, walnuts, and chestnuts, and all those things; in fact, there is scarcely any fruit we cannot grow.

2218. You can grow all those fruits as well as grapes?—Yes.

2219. I was told that you could even grow bananas?—Bananas have been planted, but, of course, we cannot yet say the result. We have not had any crop.

2220. What market do you find for your fruit—where is it?—Mostly local consumption. A good deal of it is sent to Melbourne.

2221. Would a land with a sandy surface and a clay subsoil be suited for laying out in a vineyard and oranges?—Yes.

2222. You say you introduce more oranges every year. Is there any difficulty in the rearing of the plant of the orange?—They require a little attention at first, and they require the ground specially prepared for them, and a little attention for a couple of years till they take hold of the ground.

2223. If there is not much difficulty, I should think the soil would be well adapted to grow oranges?—Yes, and all fruits.

2224. The sheltered spots?—Yes.

2225. Around Stawell, between Stawell and Great Western, I have seen vineyards very successful, producing an average of 300 gallons per page 126

W. Thompson, continued, 18th June 1886.

acre, and I am quite certain the land put to any other purpose would not produce anything at all; there was a clay subsoil, but pure sand upon the top, and there was apparently a large area of that land there?—Yes, we have thousands of acres of it.

2226. I suppose there is no great demand for that land, to take it up?—Not at present.

2227. Is it not locked up at present?—It is; it is a mining reserve.

2228. Do you know the piece of land that the Agricultural College hold near Stawell?—I do.

2229. What is it suited for?—To grow fruit and vegetables of every description.

2230. Is it not a fact that you have a large quantity of water at Stawell that might be used for irrigation to a limited extent that is not so used?—Quite correct.

2231. Would it not be a great advantage to use it upon the gardens round Stawell, instead of allowing it to run to waste?—It does not run to waste.

2232. Does not it run away?—That is only in winter time; in summer time the whole of it is taken in.

2233. What do you use it for?—Mining, and domestic and other purposes.

2234. Could not you get a larger quantity, if you wanted it, from the Grampians?—Yes, by laying down another line of pipes. There is a great quantity of land upon the pipe-track reserved for the farm that could be irrigated by storing the water in tanks upon the tops of the hills.

2235. I thought you had already storage?—That is upon the pipe-track.

2236. I know, from the information given to the Water Commission, that a large quantity of water could be used at the Great Western if the Stawell people were willing to consent, and they would not consent; but I say, why not use it at Stawell, if it is better suited than the Great Western for fruits?—They have not been planting.

2237. Would it not be worth planting, and use the water for irrigation?—Yes, but if the land had been thrown open ten years ago, Stawell would have been in a very different condition to-day.

2238. Is not the land thrown open now?—No, it is all locked up; the mining board object to its being used.

2239. Does anything else occur to your mind that would be of use to us?—There has been a good deal of evidence to-day about sugar-beet; I believe myself that would just be the land for it. I believe so from the small quantities I have grown myself.

2240. Would it pay to grow it there?—I am sure it would, if there were an outlet for it.

2241. Do you think this land would be taken up and used for some purpose if it were thrown open for cultivation?—I believe it would to a great extent.

2242. Have you had any experience in growing tobacco?—I have none myself.

2244. Are they growing it now?—I am not sure; but I think they grow two or three acres of it.

2245. Do you know that it is profitable?—I do not know. I got some myself for fumigating purposes, and I like it very much for that purpose.

2246. Do you know anything of tobacco-growing yourself?—Not much; but there is a good deal of land there suited for that culture—light sandy soil.

2247. Some few acres, I suppose, are grown in the district every year?—Yes, in the district of Ledcourt.

2248. Does any other production occur to your mind that might be cultivated in any part of this colony with advantage that is not at present cultivated?—I may say the olive does very well with us; it has not been cultivated for commercial purposes, but it grows very well as a tree or shrub. I do not think there is anything else that I recollect at present.