TUESDAY, 23rd JULY, 1918.

Present:

Hon. W. C. Angwin, M.L.A. (Chairman).

Hon. J. F. Allen, M.L.C. Hon. R. G. Ardagh, M.L.C.

T. H, Harrison, Esq., M.L.A. S. M. Brown, Esq., M.L.A.

ALEXANDER FRANCIS PEARCE, A.M.I.C.E., First Class Assistant Engineer in charge of Drawing Office , Public Works Department, and member of the Wheat Marketing and Bulk Handling Advisory Board, sworn and examined:

3259. By the CHAIRMAN : I understand you have taken a great interest in the question of the storage of wheat from an engineering point of view. Are any preparations made in connection with the storage of wheat for next year?—Yes. The proposal is to double the present sheds. They are 40 feet wide at present, and it is intended to make them 80 feet wide.

3260. That is, to make the mew shed 80 feet wide?—Yes. they will be separate from the old sheds.

3261. Are they being erected at the same places?—As nearly as possible, and we are going on the lines suggested by Professor Lefroy, that is, to have them at least 100 yards from the old ones. At Tambellup we can get that distance from the old shed. Professor Lefroy told me that so long as we could get the new sheds that distance away we could stop the weevil migrating. At Narrogin we are having a difficulty in getting a new site. At Spencer's Brook we have two alternative sites 100 yards from the old sheds. At Midland Junction the position is the same. We do not propose to do anything at Geraldton on account of the fact that one of the sheds there is three parts empty now, and furthermore, at the end of that shed we had 100 feet constructed on Professor Lefroy's principle, that is, three tiers of dunnage and the ground disinfected with lime and naphthalin. Yet the weevils are right through it.

3261a. Have the Wheat Scheme taken into consideration the advisability or otherwise of erecting more sheds at more sidings than last year to act as depots?—No. They considered it would be much cheaper to have depots centralised as much as possible.

3262. Is not the wheat more likely to be infected by weevil by being so close together in large areas?—My opinion is that the weevils are getting such a hold in this country that I do not care which site you pick it is only a question of time when all the stacks will be riddled with them. I fear weevils more than rabbits in this country.

3263. You pointed out that in Geraldton the weevil is as bad as ever there, though Professor Lefroy's principle had been adopted?—Yes, though in fairness to Professor Lefroy, if you could stop infection from outside the position would not be so bad. You have at Geraldton the Rhizopertha dominica, a bull-nosed chap, who leaves nothing but the husk. The weevils do leave a little.

3264. You have tried Professor Lefroy's principle only over a portion; is it not possible that a large portion of the shed, not having been dealt with as suggested by Professor Lefroy, has been very badly affected?—We left a big space between that and the other part of the shed uncovered, and we lined it all around, and that shed has not had any wheat in it. The distance between was 20 feet.

3265. But Professor Lefroy's idea is that there should be 100 yards or more?—you should not stack new wheat nearer than 100 yards from old wheat. In this case we had a new crop entirely in those sheds. We could not get naphthalene, and there were doubts as to whether naphthalene would not effect the three or four lower tiers.

3266. Who raised those doubts?—I think Mr Keys and also Mr Sibbald. Even where Mr Sibbald is now, in Victoria, they only do that on a limited scale on account of the damage which is feared.

3267. Do you not think that Professor Lefroy went into that matter before he made his recommendations?—He did. I pointed the matter out to him, and he said that was a danger, but he thought that wheat impregnated with naphthalene would in time clear itself of the naphthalene, but that up to then he had not tested it. he uses 95 per cent. lime and five per cent. naphthalene.

3268. You said you could not get naphthalene; could you not get tar oil?—It is available, but it was not in this State when we were putting up those sheds.

3269. the position is that the Committee over-ride the practical experience of Professor Lefroy?—No, I would not say that. If Professor Lefroy could see the way weevils are spreading here, he would urge every precaution.

3270. By Hon. J. F. ALLEN : Are they not spreading in the same way in the Eastern States?—Yes.

3271. And the conditions there are the same as here?—In New South Wales they have decided to take all their wheat outside the wheat area. They are establishing depots at Orange (6,000,000 bags), and Goulburn (3,000,000 bags). The elevation of the country is 2,300 feet, and consequently the climate is cold. There they have carried out the Professor's instructions implicitly, using lime and naphthalene on the ground, and have put in the three tiers of dunnage. I did not see any weevil there. These plans (produced) give a good idea of the arrangements made.

3272. By the CHAIRMAN : There is no weevil there at all?—I did not see any. I have brought this photograph (produced) showing the stacks at Brooklyn, No. 1 Depot, near Williamstown, Victoria. The sheds in South Australia are of more solid construction, the posts being let into concrete. There they use three tiers of dunnage with the sleepers laid on top of that. Their sheds are usually 100ft. x 50ft. or 100ft. x 75ft.

3273. So the only places where they are following Professor Lefroy's method of protection are Orange and Goulbourn?—Yes.

3274. And there is no weevil at either of those places?—I do not know of any.

3275. But you attribute that to the cold climate?—And the fact that they are right out of the wheat district.

3276. You do not think Professor Lefroy's method is responsible for it?—Not at present, at all events.

3277. There is no wheat stacked there under methods other than his?—No; all the weevily stuff goes to Enfield.

3278. So Professor Lefroy's method has proved efficient in that district?—I should say, off-hand, yes. I was not there long enough to examine the stack. I was there in March, not in the heat of the summer. It was then very cold there. The cold weather retards the action of the weevil.

3279. By the CHAIRMAN : When wheat is in the stack, and is damp, it becomes warm of its own volition?—That would happen more when the wheat was in bulk than when in bags, for there is a certain amount of ventilation in bags.

3280. I have seen bags of wheat of this year's harvest that have been quite warm to the touch?—If