reports the cost of manufacture at £41 for the purpose of comparison, they ought to have included all charges. If we took the overhead burden at, say, the Rocky Bay works, it would be nearly impossible to manufacture a harvester at anything like a reasonable cost, because we know the works are overcapitalised. They cannot expect to make harvesters until they write off a considerable amount for possible mistakes. The duty on a harvester is £14. I am under the impression that the farmer pays in some cases quite twice as much as he ought for some of his requisites. The duty is hampering production. The various importers take full advantage of it, as well as the manufacturers. The cost and the duty work out as much per acre, and I will furnish the Commission with a statement showing how much per acre this comes to on ploughs, cultivators, rollers, harrows, drills, etc., on the basis of a thousand-acre farm and 300 acres under cultivation.

9004. By Mr VEEN: You will be able to show the duty that a man pays per acre and how much the tariff affects the industry? - Yes. It will come to nearly one bushel per acre under normal conditions. With regard to the bulk handling system, my company has been in touch with some of the elevator companies and co-operative companies in Canada and other parts of the world in order that we might effect some improvements in our methods. We also had Mr Sutton's report for 1913 and the Metcalf Company's report of about a year or two ago. The reasons advanced by that company for the establishment of the bulk handling business appear to us to be sound and good. We have had the experience of handling on the wharf. Just now we are loading one of the Commonwealth ships, the "Austral Crag." We started to load about three days before the strike, which lasted eight days, and will finish to-morrow; 75,000 bags will take about nine days to load. The master of that ship told me that he filled her up with bulk wheat in 22 hours at Galveston and unloaded her in 24 hours at Rotterdam. If the commission could take a walk along the wharf one of these days they would see the loading in progress and note the method of handling wheat in bags and the wastage in labour, energy, and bags. The bags are tumbled down from the top of the stack and they often break. Then they have to be patched up or the wheat turned out and put into another bag. The cost is considerable, and it has to be borne by the farmer. I noticed that in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly recently Mr Graham, in moving the second reading of the Wheat Elevator Bill said that for this year's crop alone the cost of bags to farmers in New South Wales would be £637,000, and he added that at the present time wheat had to be handled five times in its transfer from the farm to the ship, whereas under the bulk system there would be four handlings. I recollect a farmer at Geraldton stating , on the occasion of a reception to Mr W.D. Johnson, that the farmers in the Geraldton district alone had lost £10,000 through incorrect weighing.

9005. Will the farmer get the correct weight under the bulk handling system? - All risk of faulty weighing and of fraud will be eliminated under the bulk system, and that is well worth paying for.

9006. By Mr PAYNTER: Would you advocate the Government taking over the weigh-bridges? - That method of weighing has been very unsatisfactory. Some of our farmers will not put their wheat over the Government weigh-bridges because they feel they are not getting the proper weights. They have been tested and found to be wrong. Mr Keyser could give you some figures showing the railway weight , and the weight we pay freight on. There is a Harbour trust weight in addition, and the weight into the mills. The figures always vary quite a lot.

9007. Should bulk handling be controlled by private enterprise or the Government? - I think the farmers should control their own system. The Government could establish the terminal elevators for them, and perhaps undertake the issue of certificates. But the handling should be left with the farmers themselves. I think with some little assistance they will be prepared to find the labour necessary for the erection of the country elevators themselves, and pay the cost of material and under take the whole cost of the country system.

9008. By the CHAIRMAN: Would you favour the creation of a trust in which all sections of the trade would be represented? - The farmer is supposed to have representation on a good many bodies but has never proved a real representation. I think his interests have been neglected everywhere. The mere fact of the farmers having formed co-operative companies is evidence of the distrust of the prevailing conditions and it shows the desire on their part to help themselves. In your letter to me you say you wish to discuss with me influence of co-operation on agriculture. The Westralian Farmers, Ltd., the farmers' co-operative company was formed a little over two years ago. Only farmers and farmers companies are eligible for membership. The Westralian Farmers, Ltd., does both wholesale and retail business and is the centre of the co-operative movement in this State. Twenty local companies have been formed during the past few months, and it is expected that another 20 will be registered before the end of the year. The activities of the local companies include (a) organising the district farmers, (b) collecting and forwarding through the wholesale company, for export or local distribution, grain and other farm produce, (c) securing general farm requisites through the central wholesale company and distributing same, (d) Insurance business, (e) through its members, who are mostly shareholders in the central company, assisting in the control and direction of the central wholesale company. The central company is represented by agents in practically every agricultural centre where there is no local co-operative company established. The chief business of the central company is the supply of farming requisites and the distribution of farm produce. Both the central and the local companies trade with shareholders and non-shareholders. Both the central and the local companies provide that dividends shall not exceed 7 per cent., and that the profits for distribution be distributed on a pro rata basis on the trade done. The co-operative company claims that it has already brought about conditions that mean increased returns on products sold, and lower cost on commodities. The local co-operative companies and the agents for the central company have earned between them this season over £30,000 in commissions. Most of these local co-operative companies had very little more than £10 subscribed capital to start with and very few of them will finish the wheat season with less than £100 profit. The co-operative companies