10159. Have you sufficient louvered vans for the carriage of perishable produce?—Yes, but we have not sufficient to meet the whole of the fruit traffic. to give you an idea of the volume of that business, I have had the following summary prepared:—

JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, 1917. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

                                                                                        District.
                                  ________________________________________________________________________

Month, 1917. Central. Great Southern. South- Western. Grand Totals.

                                  _______________________________________________________________________________________________
                                        Trucks.  Louvered  Total.    Trucks.  Louvered  Total.      Trucks.  Louvered  Total.           Trucks.  Louvered  Total.
                                                         Vans.                                  Vans.                                     Vans.                                          Vans.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ January .. .. 150 195 345 88 17 105 303 43 346 541 255 796

February .. .. 194 186 380 107 27 134 422 60 482 723 273 996

March .. .. 183 242 425 180 35 215 476 96 572 839 373 1,212

                                   _______________________________________________________________________________________________
        Totals       ..            527          623        1,150          375        79         454        1,201       199       1,400            2,103           901       3,004

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The firm of Silbert and Sharpe, who at one time were largely interested in the matter of perishable produce, both in Perth and on the goldfields, would never look at a louvered van; they always insisted on having a D & V truck. I was in charge at the goldfields district at the time, and I frequently inspected the fruit and vegetables which were being discharged, and I made it my business to have trucks opened to look at the condition of the produce, and I found that the articles which came in the closed wagons arrived in much better condition than that which was louvered vans. In the latter case the fruit would be covered with dust and ashes, while the fruit in the D & V vans would be perfectly clean. It was also quite cool in spite of the hot weather. I mention that to show that the idea of preferring louvered vans is a fad with some people. We deal with the apple trade mostly with the covered vans. The number we have to supply daily is considerable. I have a return here which shows that on one day we supplied 77, on the next 59, and then 79, 56, and 47. To make a round trip from Fremantle or Perth to Bridgetown and back requires no less than four days, and if we had to supply 50 wagons in one day we would want 200 wagons to meet the orders. We have a heavy demand for louvered vans for the goldfields traffic, and also for the Great Southern and the South-West, where they load highly perishable goods. It is necessary to have properly ventilated vans for the carriage of that kind of produce, otherwise it will sweat.

10160. Do you run those vans on certain specified trains or do you supply them as ordered?—We supply them as ordered. I have another statement showing the volume of the milk traffic we deal with. The approximate number of cans of milk arriving in Perth daily ex South-West district is as follows:—By No.166, six cans; No. 108, 53 cans; No,30, 12 cans; No. 12, 14 cans, No. 24, nine cans; No. 14. four cans. Ex Eastern railway (Korrelocking branch), daily by No. 54, 12 cans of cream and eight cwt. of eggs. Ex Eastern railway (Baandee), for the month of May last, seven cans of cream, 15 boxes of rabbits, eight boxes of eggs, two crates of turkeys, two packages of perishables, one parcel of cake. All these came by trains Nos. 4 and 102. I think you will agree that we cater very well for the milk trade of the South-West. I have another return showing the general scale of rates and conditions for the conveyance of cream and milk between all places:—

                                      Per Imp.
                                       Gallon.       Minimum.

Up to 20 miles .. ½d. 5d. Up to 40 miles .. ¾d. 6d. Up to 100 miles .. 1d. 9d. Up to 150 miles .. 1¼d. 1s.

and for each additional 100 miles ¼d. per gallon. Cream placed in canisters, bottles, and jars may be carried at same rates as though placed in cans. Small quantities of cream or milk will be charged half parcel rates. The minimum is 3d. Imported cream which has not been sterilised, boiled, added to, or treated in any way is charged at half parcel rates. Condensed or concentrated milk is charged ordinary parcel rates. Since the 2nd February, 1916, cream and milk in three-gallon cans has been carried up to 20 miles at a minimum charge of 3d.

10161. BY Mr PAYNTER: Is it possible to send milk by the goldfields express?—Yes. We take up a little at Coolgardie of Mungari for Kalgoorlie.

10162. BY Mr CLARKSON: Has the department ever considered the advisableness of running a light motor service on the rails, especially on those lines where there is an intermittent service?—The matter has engaged the Commissioner's attention frequently, but the experience of the Eastern States in that direction has not been altogether satisfactory. Queensland imported three oil-driven cars to use on lines where the traffic was small. It costs 1s. a mile to run these cars, as against 6s. 9d. for trains. Victoria also experimented with them, but I understand in both cases they were failures. The cars were expensive, costing between £3,000 and £4,000 each, and the departments of both States were so dissatisfied with them that, I understand they scrapped them.

10163. By Mr VENN: Could you not use less expensive motors, something like that being used by Mr Smith at Jarrahwood?—I know that is a convenient one, but these cars are very unreliable. The flying gangs have motor trolleys. They are good machines, but it would not do to rely on them