1918 we have had 934 bushels. The farmers are afraid to send the stuff. A month ago a man from Brookton came along with half a dozen bags. He said he had been told a Kokeby that he could not get any gristing at all done, that he would have to put it into the scheme, and that he had merely brought along a little lot to see whether he could really get it done. Of course I did it for him. The farmers prefer to send their own wheat in because, if it is a lot up to ten bags, I grist it by itself, and so the farmer gets his own material back, which is very different from putting in clean wheat and getting back weevilly flour. Every farmer withholds from the scheme a certain quantity of wheat for seeding, and for feeding stock. 7382. What is the output of your mill? — Two and a half bags per hour. The limit would be about nine tons of flour per week. It was a paltry little thing against the whole wheat matter. I was managing the flour milling business for Messrs. James Gillespie, Ltd., for six and a half years. They had mills at Northam, Beverley, and Fremantle. We had a considerable quantity of the wheat in stack. One season we added to our storage capacity at Northam, and in one part owing to the hurry we were not able to build the level of the wheat platform up to the same height as the rest of it. The greater portion of the stacking was built up to truck level. In the other portion owe put in some big logs and dunnaged it and kept the stack up about 15 inches off the ground. When we came to break the wheat out the weevil were found in the bottom of the stack, but not where the wheat was on the staging. We never had any trouble with the weevil on staged wheat. 7383. That was because it was away from the damp? — it was away from the ground. Furthermore, the floors were tight and there was no leakage. No grain ever got to the ground. When there are three feet of room underneath, the air comes freely in. weevil do not like the cold, and will get out of wind if they can. The ants also get in underneath the stack and travel about and eat up a considerable quantity of the weevil larvae, or else the white ant larvae. This year during the early part of the season when the mill was idle the ants swarmed over the mill from top to bottom. I wondered what had brought them in, and found out that they were carrying away the larvae not only of the weevil but of the Mediterranean meal moth. The ants pretty well cleared out the mill in a fortnight. Where ever the wheat is exposed in that way and ants can get in they will go after the larvae. This is their natural food. All wheat stacks ought to be three feet off the ground, the height of a truck ready for loading. It should also be stacked on tight floors. with regard to the business of stacking, as a rule the outside of the stack and the corners are all right. In the middle, however, the bags are generally dumped in such a way that when the stack settles down it is torn in two. This means that a lot of loose wheat gets down through the middle of the stack, the mice come in, and play havoc with it. More waste takes place through the stack being broken up owing to improper construction than in any other way. 7384. What was the cost per ton for gristing at Gillespie's mills? — We were working in steam then and it cost us in fuel and wages about 17s. a ton of flour. Interest on plant and other allowances are not included. There was also a loss in the bags. 7385. What was the cost including the overhead charges? — The interest is a large item. There is scarcely a mill running under steam to-day, the power being nearly all coming from suction gas engines. The syndicate which has taken over the mill have put up a 452 horse-power suction gas National engine. This is more than is necessary to drive the mill, but the idea is to take the electric lighting of the town as well. It would also allow of the plant being increased up to five bags with the addition of a little more machinery and a little more accommodation. They have approached the Wheat Scheme about gristing, but I do not know what has taken place. i only want to show the injuries which have been done to me and the unfair treatment that I have received without getting and redress. 7386. Under the wheat agreement the Minister had power to give any person who desired permission to send wheat in? — Independent of the 100 bushels? 7387. A certain amount for gristing. Any farmer who wanted wheat sent in for gristing could sent it in with the Minister's consent? — I did not know about that. Before the Federal Act the farmer do as he liked about gristing. One man gristed the whole of his crop of 1,000 bags ta my mill. He said he had taken counsel's advice about the matter and that he could not be interfered with. It would not be safe for a man to do that now. 7388. By Hon. J. F. ALLEN: You said it did not pay you to grist at 7d. a bushel? — No, not at the time I was running my machinery with oil. When I put the mill there i could buy oil at 6s. 6d. When I had finished the last bit I did for the farmers it was costing me 28s. 6d. 7389. With oil at 6s. 6d., would it pay you to grist at 7d.? — It pays me to grist at 1s. I did not work out whether it paid me to grist at 7d., because the 7d. regulation was not in existence. The cost of oil has been continually creeping up, and nearly every month the price has been different. When I started the mill the price of power oil was 6ds. 6d. per case. The engine used a case and a half, so that the cost of the eight hours' run would be 9s. 9d. With oil at 19s. per case the cost would be 28s. per eight hours. 7390. Of what capacity was your mill? — Two and a half bags up to the time I stopped. I desired to make it a three-bag mill. I could grind more but could not dress it. 7391. How many men did you employ? — One man beside myself. That did not leave me anything at all. If the farmer has the right to make use of public conveniences for transmitting that wheat without interference from anyone. Why should the Minister for railways be instructed to prohibit him from ,lifting that freight? There is one thing I particularly wish to say. Al present bran is being sold at something over £4, and chaff is worth £5 12s. 6d., where does fairness come in in that matter? The prices mean that bran is out down a long way below its market value. The difference, if the bran is sold at £4 odd, has to be made up in the cost of flour, and the general community have to pay so much more for each loaf. 7392. But, you see, there is an excessive quantity of bran, and in fact of all offal, at the present time? — I do not know that. if I had bran to sell, I could sell a very large quantity; and bran is being taken up a good deal York, Narrogin, and Katanning. The farmers in Brookton are buying bran for themselves. A great many of them grist a bit of stuff for themselves, and the bran they get is not sufficient. And when it comes to the damaged wheat the pig feeders complain that the damaged wheat is not available to them up country on the railway stations, as it ought to be. What is the use of bringing the damaged wheat, has to give the pigs good wheat. The weevily wheat, which would be good for that purpose, is meantime being ground up for human consumption. That is putting the wrong end first. (The witness retired.) The Commission adjourned.