Another reply that the Fremantle Chamber of Commerce received was this: -

The Seattle Chamber of Commerce, dated 12th January, 1915, reported that the exporting of wheat in bulk heretofore has been very unsatisfactory, as there was great danger of it sprouting while crossing the tropics. We expect, however, as soon as the opening of the Panama Canal is completed to export more wheat in bulk. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, dated 17th December, 1914, reported that only nominal amount of wheat shipped from San Francisco, all of which is shipped in sacks.

There are two other replies which I did not embody in the letter, but I can tell you what they are. One is from the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce covering a report from the Liverpool Corn Trade Association, and they report that the handling of grain in bulk, being cheaper than under the bag system, would be welcomed by the traders of our port. Then the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce also covers a report from the Liverpool Grain Storage Association, which says, the bulk system is the most economical method of dealing with grain from the point of view of discharging from ocean liners into the granaries. With regard to these reports, it is quite correct they have the appliances there for handling in bulk. I have been through those warehouses in Liverpool, and have seen them operating there, and there is no doubt, as they say, that discharging ocean liners, that they can do it. These letters do not deal with the general question as to whether bulk handling is, or is not, more acceptable to traders but they deal with it from their particular point of view as warehousemen discharging ships.

8968. The matter of efficient handling?-- Yes. That is the only point of view they deal with. The others deal with it from a general point of view.

8969. How do you think the grading system would work as applied to the Australian wheat?-- I think the farmers would get an eye opener if that system were carried out. An ordinary farmer, or citizen, has had no experience and has no conception of the dirt and foreign matter that come out of apparently well cleaned wheat. I take it that under the bulk system, if the wheat was graded it would be clean, and there would be a tremendous lot of foreign matter taken out. It is quite reasonable to expect that, in its clean state, it would realise a little higher price, but I do not think the additional price that graded wheat would fetch would compensate the farmers for the rubbish they would have to lose if taken out with the elevators. Without actual experience of what procedure would be, I take it that when delivered to the wheat elevator it would be graded there, and the dirt and stuff returned to the farmer, and they would have to pay the cost of the cleaning process.

8970. That in itself would not be a bad thing?-- But the farmers do not realise that.

8971. By Mr. PAYNTER: I presume the wheat would be placed on the market under those conditions. It would be tried to be sold as a higher grade of wheat?-- When the importer in Europe got accustomed to what they might expect to receive from Australia as a certainty they would base their values upon it accordingly. The farmer against that would have to pay the initial cost of grading, and a lot of the dirt and foreign stuff which now finds it way home in the ordinary bags of wheat would be returned to them, for which they would get nothing.

8972. If Australia made no other saving, they being able to handle wheat more rapidly at the ports, and people sending away a better class of graded wheat, it would still be desirable to introduce the system, do you not think?-- I could not say that.

8973. If there was no other saving than that, and if the cost of the bags was equivalent to bulk handling, the sending away of a better grade of wheat would be much better and the system would be worth installing?-- If the wheat under the bulk handling system could be shipped and delivered to the importers abroad so as to give the same net results to the farmers as they now receive under the bag system, of the two I should prefer the bulk handling.

8974. Only, under the bulk handling system, you would not ship the rubbish?-- That is so.

8975. By Mr. VENN: The buyers get to wheat by the weight?-- Yes; under the bulk handling system you could not keep each farmers' wheat separate; it would be all mixed up.

8976. By the CHAIRMAN: I think I understood you to say you had no antagonism to the system?-- Yes.

8877. And you approach it with an open mind?-- Yes.

8978. Were you called as a witness before the bulk handling commission of 1904-5?-- I was not.

8979. Can you give any reason why?-- No.

8980. Do you not think it rather peculiar that you as one of the oldest wheat merchants was not called?-- I did not give the matter a thought. I am not anxious to come out into the limelight.

8981. By Mr. PAYNTER: You spoke about the difficulty of shifting the harvest. I suppose, if we had bulk handling, there would be some bagging of wheat. Could it be overcome by taking the bagged stuff first and lifting the bulk afterwards?-- If you are to cater for the world's requirements, you would have to have the wheat in the way it is required, either in bulk or in bags.

8982. By the CHAIRMAN: Do you think that, in ordinary times, there would be any difficulty in lifting the harvest in one of two months, instead of four or five, if we had the bulk handling system?-- I do not think so. After the war conditions, possibly there will be for a time a difficulty until the supply of ships gets normal again.

8983. I notice the local commission recommended the installation of plant to handle five million bushels of grain. If there was any delay in the loading of grain, this would have to be stored in bulk or silos on the farm, in order to hold it back until the vessels arrive to lift it?-- Yes. The usual procedure in arranging to lift the wheat harvest is that ships are offering, say, during the months of August and September. September more usually, and the grain merchants, as soon as they can get a fair indication of what the prospect of the harvest is going to be, they commence chartering vessels ahead, say for December loading, or January 15 loading, or February loading, it all depends on the movements of the vessel as to when it will be in the port and available for loading, seeing that the chartering is so many months ahead. That vessel may have to make two or three voyages to other ports, before it will be in the Western Australia port. There is a cancelling date