the lumpers going. I had also rung Mr. Davies in the Narrogin shed, and asked him to supply me on behalf of the Scheme with bags. He said he had no authority to do it, and even if he had authority, he had no bags. 2822. By Hon. J. F. ALLEN: What position did Mr. Davies hold? —I understand he was practically head of the Government men at the Narrogin depot. Mr. Merrin is the working boss there. 2823. Are those railway men?—No; Scheme men. While I was waiting for trucks, I did not only bother the railway officials at Narrogin, but I wired several times to the Westralian Farmers asking them to use their influence to get me these trucks. I understand they interviewed the Commissioner of Railways, and I have their wires on the subject, though I have not brought them with me. The wires said that trucks were promised, and all that sort of thing, that the Commissioner was going to send them up at once. But it had very little effect. While I had written orders in to the Railway Department for between 400 and 500 tons of trucks yet i could see rakes of empty trucks passing through my siding, going out to the head of the line for W. N. Hedges. Inspector Sabine happened to be on a train one day with, I think, 30 to 36 empties on it. I pointed out to the guard that I had orders in for 400 tons of trucks, and I asked why I could not get them. He said these trucks had to go up the line; that was all the information I could get. I asked the guard in the presence of Inspector Sabine, and he promised that he would do what he could to get trucks. But the Railway Department seemed to hold supreme command as regards trucks. At the same time that I am wiring for trucks the Wheat Scheme are caning me for not getting the wheat away; in fact, they lay complaints that they cannot get me to load the trucks. In reply, I complained that I could not get the trucks to load. They instanced one day when their inspector came through Harrismith and saw twelve empty trucks lying there. It was a most unfair report for the inspector to make, because he came up on the train that shunted the twelve trucks off . He certainly saw them empty ; but he returned on that train next day, and if he had reported on the matter again he would have then reported that the trucks were fully loaded. Through this delay in getting trucks, some of the wheat is still there, and practically every bag of it has got to be re-bagged; because, as I said, the bags were of exceedingly poor quality, and with exposure to the weather they have simply rotted. 2824. By Hon. R. G. ARDAGH: In what state is that wheat now? —The wheat itself is fair. It is a little mouldy. We use every endeavour, while trucking, to scrape any mouldy wheat away before we disturb the f.a.q.; and the mouldy wheat goes into one lot of bags and the f.a.q. into another lot of bags. But it is an almost impossible task to separate those wheats, because as the wheat is falling down, bags are leaking, the mouldy wheat comes down with the good. It is impossible to move those bags without bursting them, and that is another source of getting the mouldy wheat mixed with the good wheat. All this is adding to cost of the wheat. We have had a change of district superintendents in the railways at Narrogin; and the new district superintendent, Mr. O'Connor, made a sort of inspection trip along our line. I brought the matter of the truckings under his notice. He said he knew it had been mixed up, but he added that there were no trucks available. I asked him this: If in future years we were to just truck from the sidings and when the receivings were finished we shut up and put two gangs of men on the line to load one set of trucks one way and one another way, whether that would help him. He said it would help the railways wonderfully. Of course, the damage has been done this year and I suppose it has to be faced. I do not think there are any other matters that I wish to bring under the notice of the Commission. 2825. Is the wheat in your district under cover? —No. Kulin got instructions to cover their stack. They did not get instructions for a long time; the instructions came one day and almost the day after it was covered, it was shifted. 2826. Is there any sale in your district for damaged wheat?—Yes, there are several pig men around there. 2827. By Hon. J. F. ALLEN: What prompted you to volunteer to give evidence?—In meeting the other delegates at the conference I asked them some questions with regard to trucking facilities and the handling of the wheat, and I gathered they were in the same position as I was. I had made the statement to them that I have made to you, and to use my own words I told them the position was damnable. Then they told me that I had better interview the Commission, and that possibly my interview might lead to redress in the future years. That is why I came along to give evidence. 2828. By Mr. HARRISON: How many sidings do you operate?—Seven—Weedin, Tinkurrin, Harrismith, Dudinin, Jitarning, Kondinin, Bendaring. 2829. Do you work from your centre to the terminus of that particular railway?—No. There are four or five sidings past us and they are controlled by other co-operative companies, and private agents. 2830. You stated that Mr. Hedges got trucks that went through your siding. What siding would it be that they went to?—Hedge's siding, which is his own place. 2831. Is that handled by a co-operative company?—I would not be certain, But I do not think it is. 2832. Do you have more than one gang of men at each siding?—No. 2833. If you had two or three gangs at specified sidings, do you think you could handle your stacks more quickly for delivery?—Yes. 2834. Do you follow that practice?—We have not followed it this year because as the wheat was all supposed to be in by the end of April it meant that every siding would have to be kept fully supplied with trucks and we were definitely told that trucks were to be supplied as we required them, and consequently we kept gangs at every siding. There was not one gang that did not tell us that that would be the last time they would handle wheat. They ate all they earned. 2835. What is the system the railways follow; do they take a train load of empties to-day and bring them down full to-morrow?—Theoretically, that is the system, but in practice loaded trucks remain at sidings for days and even weeks at a times. During January, February, and the early part of March, nearly every other train that came along that line was well loaded with merchandise, super.,etc.; and consequently they could not bring too many empties. 2836.How many trains do you have a week?—Only one regular train, but during the busy season we had a train nearly every day. 2837. Would it be of advantage to you people and the Scheme if you had one ordinary train a week, and specials to take the stacks from the sidings farthest north to save train mileage for empty and full trucks?—I do not think so, after the conversation I had with the district superintendent. The proposition I put before the district superintendent was to start one gang at Kulin and one at Jitarning, and let Jitarning work towards Narrogin and the other towards the head of the line. That would enable the district superintendent to run a train to Jitarning to-day full of empties and pick up a load which had been previously, and go back.The next day he would run a train from Kulin to the head of the line and run back into Narrogin with it. On the following day he would run to Jitarning again and that would give two days loading. He favoured that scheme. 2838. How many of your temporary stacks did you have covered?—Not one. There was no wheat covered on that line except at Kulin, where it was covered only for a day or two. 2839. Has it all been removed?—I left a week or two ago and there was still about 800 bags at Jitarning. 2840. If you could have removed all your wheat by the 30th April, which was the first date mentioned, would you have escaped this wet?—Most of it. 2841. And the wheat would have been in good condition?—Yes. 2842. I suppose you were like others, suffering a disability for not having covers on the trucks?—We never got any. I made a statement about not being able to get trucks to Mr. Davies and to the Scheme inspector, Mr. Gillespie, and Mr. Merrin, at Narrogin, and they could hardly credit it. Mr. Merrin said there must be something in it because very often when he was unloading trucks at the depot the mice in the trucks had time to get married, build a house and