9959. By Mr. CLARKSON: Are there any other matters you would like to bring forward?—I would like to read this statement to the Commission:—"The general feeling of the trade is that they should be all under one roof. The low prices and waste in fruit during the past season can be put down to lack of central markets and system of sales. In the past, when supplies were small, the auction system was able to cope with the supplies. As the production increases there must be increased auction rooms or an alteration in the system. Under the auction system the best part of the morning of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which are the main market days, is occupied in selling vegetables, tomatoes, melons, eggs, and poultry, and during the soft fruit season, quantities of tomatoes and melons are fairly large. A buyer mostly trades in all these lines and it is well on midday before he can attend fruit sales, and by the time he has waited about to get all his supplies, attended to his invoices,got delivery of his goods,loaded his cart, the best part of the day is gone, and he is unable to do much more on that day. Under centralised markets, with provision made for vegetables and goods carted in by road to be sold by private treaty, buyers would then be able to get supplies much quicker as the handling would be lessened considerably, and would be done by the buyer or grower; consequently goods would be better cared for. This is the systems in most parts of the world, and not until a similar systems is in vogue in this State will it be possible to increase production at a price that is payable to the grower, or reduce the cost to the consumer. Fruit and goods that arrived by rail could be sold by auction and commission agents. Buyers then who wanted to get away early could do so, and occupy the balance of the day selling goods. There are about 400 buyers in attendance at the auctions, the three main market days of the week. The average purchase of a buyer would be about £20 per week, he requires a horse and cart (or pays a carrier); therefore he is half the week attending to his purchases. This with the auctions, commission and charges will help to solve the question of difference between grower and consumer. For every ten loads of vegetables marketed here, there are about 500 loads marketed in the Eastern States, under the open market system, and the population of South Australia for instance is only about 50 per cent. above that of this State. Under the auction system several separate handlings are required to supply country orders. Consequently there is destruction and delay. The improvements suggested are that fruit and vegetables should be in close proximity, arrangements for selling wholesale and retail, agents' stores, packers' stores, with a fumigating chamber, and that there should be a destructor in close vicinity for the treatment of second-hand cases. The waste in cases at the present time must be quite £500 per week, and that estimate must be considerably increased it not doubled during the tomato and grape season. A large proportion of this would be saved if there was a place to treat the cases. The broad policy advocated should be to encourage the producer by lowering the cost of packaging and handling charges. Market days should be reduced to three days a week for fruit as well as vegetables. Fast fruit trains would then run to suit the markets, which would mean a saving in railway work, and no mixing up of fruit with general merchandise. A railway siding would be necessary in the markets. The question of site for the markets would be a matter for the railways to decide. The present West Perth site would be much more suitable than East Perth as the majority of buyers come from Subiaco, Claremont, Cottesloe, Leederville, and North Perth. Cool storage is only required for a few varieties of fruit, and whilst it is admittedly needed it should not precede the markets, for the main users of cool storage would be as now—a few of the large growers,persons well established in the industry, and fruit dealers. In the past years, and even in this year, there has been ample cool storage accommodation for all concerned, and it is quite possible that as soon as the central markets are established, others will be built, and the present increased if required. The main supplies that are cool stored are from May on, and the present time of the year is when the most fruit is stored. Next month they generally start to put it on the market and before the hot weather sets in it is mostly disposed of, as it has to be sold before the new season's fruit comes in. With regard to the glut of fruit that occurred during the month of December last, I estimated that about 50,000 cases came into the Perth goods sheds, and during Christmas week there must have been about 19,000 cases. This was considerably more than anyone ever expected, and consequently the railways took longer to discharge it. I saw no delays. I finished up all our fruit by about midday on Christmas eve. As a matter of fact, there was some soft fruit as well as other fruit awaiting through transit for our Fremantle branch, and as it was impossible for it to get to Fremantle by goods train before the holidays started,it was sent down by passenger train and we got delivery of it in the afternoon,which was a day quicker than if it had gone by goods. During the month of January more fruit came through the goods sheds than in December, as that month must have totalled about 60,000 cases. We did not hear of any delays in that month, so it could not have been all the fault of the sheds, although they are not constructed for rapid handling. The railways give us all the fruit as soon as it unloaded, provided it is plainly marked. The signing up and producing of advice notes is generally done some hours after the fruit has gone. I do not think these concessions are given with general merchandise. There is a charge added to the freight of 1s. per ton for loading fruit. This would not be charged if central markets were in existence. The extra cost of shunting to the markets would be about 1d. Therefore, this would mean a big saving to the grower and on the two months above mentioned it would be about £100 at least. A saving would also be made with potatoes, vegetables, and dairy produce which comes by rail.

9960. What do you handle besides fruit and vegetables?—Produce. We store butter. We get eggs and sometimes poultry. Our supplies are mostly fruit,potatoes and onions. We do a little in chaff,wheat, and oats,but not in Perth.

9961. By Mr. VENN: Are many onions grown locally?—Yes. If you take a run out to Spearwood you will find tons of onions growing there. They are the brown and white, but I do not know the names of them. We get 18 to 20 tons from an acre every year. With regard to potatoes the best come from the South-West, down to Bridgetown.

9962. By Mr. CLARKSON: Do you find that potatoes grown without manure keep better than