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Wheat (1) - Part 2
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Wheat (1) - Part 2
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3833. Was there not an arrangement when the British Government bought the wheat that they would take it away at an early date? —It was not stated in the contract. 3834. But it was understood? —It may have been, but it was not stated in the contract. 3835. It was expected that the wheat would be away by August? —I think Mr .Hughes or some politician made a statement that it would be away by the end of August, it was not inserted in the contract with the Imperial Government. 3836 If the wheat was badly affected right through, the contract would be off as far as the British Government were concerned if they desired it? —If you could not have tendered them their quantity of f. a q. wheat free of weevil, probably they would have had a claim against you, but I do not think they could have repudiated the contract. 3837. Does the Pool lose much by gristing the wheat into flour? —At the time I think it pans out about 4s 7d. a bushel to us. 3838. That is including? —Plus any los of percentage through weevil. 3839, You cannot get it exactly ? —No, you cannot tell. 3840. That includes the 3d per bushel they are giving you? —No, in the 4s 7d. That 3d. a bushel is not calculated. Most of it goes in handling charges .I am taking our present contract with the millers. Our price for gristing clears 4s 7d. 3841. Then the British government took the wheat at 4s. 9d and they are really paying us 4s.7d? —You cannot say that: they are paying us £11 for the flour, which is equivalent to 4s 9d. for the wheat.. 3842. But the contract is really down to 4s. 7d.; the wheat is only of that value? —You cannot say that; a lot of the wheat we are gristing at the present time is not Imperial Government wheat at all, but our own .When I am making my calculations I cannot pick out which is Imperial and which is our wheat. 3843. You are saving for gristing the wheat which is damaged by weevil and you are keeping the other? —As far as practicable. For all the flour we get out of the wheat the Imperial Government pay £11, which is equivalent to 4s. 9d. We are losing 2d, on the wheat which is damaged by weevil. The next question I want to refer to is No 756 in Mr Baxter's evidence relating to the cost of handling in the various States. 3844. There was a pamphlet issued in South Australia and I asked Mr . Baxter whether he had seen it. have you seen it? —I have not seen it. 3845. A discussion took place at the A. W. B. conference and it was pointed out that the cost of handling in Western Australia was cheaper but that the interest was higher? —None of the States work on the same basis. The haling conditions prevent that to a certain extent and of course the agreements are drawn up for different services. I have been through the South Australian and the New South Wales agreements. but I have not seen that of Victoria. I had a letter from the Secretary of the Wheat commission there which gave me the details of the agreement .On working the agreements up and knocking out the extra services they might be doing, compared to what the agent are doing in this State. I arrive at this basis; Western Australia, costs, 1⅝ ., that is allowing for full commission to the subagents of one penny; Victoria, 1⅞., which also allows for the full commission to subagent; South Australia 2d.; New South Wales 2 ¼. In regard to these costs I would like to say it is extremely difficult to peruse an agreement and pick up exactly the services that have to be rendered and work out the actual costs. Take New South Wales: if I went to the officials of that State they might point out that were certain services that perhaps did not look much in the agreement but which entailed a large expense. It is hard for me to judge New South Wales services, but basing it on my knowledge of the condition pan out as I have stated, I have handled wheat in most of the State and know pretty well what it cost to handle everywhere in Australia. In Victoria the agent have to bring the wheat to the depot, stack it at the depot, they have to lay dun-age , put screens around it , put roofing iron on , and they have to take care of it to the 31st October. I assess all those extra services at about 1½d per bushels, which reduces the 2⅜ to 1 ⅞. The same thing applies with variations to South Australia and New South Wales agreement the agents are called upon to ship all the wheat. There is no doubt that when they have made their calculations they have allowed for shipment, but the chances are they will ship mighty little of it, .of course they provide for costs in case they have to ship. 3846. By Hon J. F. ALLEN; If they do not ,the contract becomes more profitable?— Exactly. The next matter I wish to refer to is contained in Mr Hall's evidence, questions 1500 to 1507. Mr .Hall deals with the natural increase in the weight of the wheat, There is no doubt that the wheat Mr . Ockerby has acquired as a shipper and which he shipped increased in weight, but what that increase was it is hard to say. We might say, "we will assess you on the average increases of the other shippers. 'Mr . Ockerby might reply, "I will not pay you anything; you prove that my wheat has increased in weight." It is a matter of impossibility. I t teaches one lesson , and it is , that a miller should be a miller only so far as the Scheme is concerned. That leads to the broad question of the natural increase in the weight of wheat. Wheat when it is harvested is usually harvested in the summer months When it is taken off by a harvester, as rule, it is harvested perhaps slightly green; farmers do not wait for it to get over-ripe. Say a bag of wheat if taken off a harvester on the 1st January and weighed, and it is weighed again on the 8th January, it s most usually found that it has lost about one per cent . The wheat goes into stacks and remains there for varying periods. Assuming that it stays there over the wet season ,the wheat will absorb again at least that one per cent, which it has lost, and perhaps a little more. If the wheat should come into direct contact with moisture there is no knowing what it will take and the bags will take up even more than the wheat. Scientists say that wheat is not hygroscopic, that it will not absorb moisture, in the form of vapour, to any great extents. 3847. Then there is not much in the contention that wheat will considerably increase in weight?— Only if it comes into direct contact with moisture. 3848 The wheat you had here was sold f. o. b?— Yes, but the weight paid for is the weight at the discharging point. 3849. So if there be any natural increase on the voyage, you get the benefit?— Yes. Wheat generally picks up a little, but I have never yet had, on the year's handling an increase greater than one-half per cent— that is on shipping wheat.3850. By Mr . BROWN: Does that man between the ports?— That means from the acceptance of delivery from the farmer to the port discharge at the other side of the world. As a general rile, wheat merchants in Australia get rid of most of their wheat before winter sets in, and by the end of April two-third of the export wheat will have been sent away. but that wheat arrives at the other side of the world in summer , when the condition are all against an increase in weight. 3851. By the CHAIRMAN: but English air is very humid id summer?— Our wheat goes not only to England but all around the Mediterranean. We have a clause in our charter parties which provides that the ship's captain shall take of the hatches during favourable weather. That has a twofold purpose, first to allow the fresh air to get down and help to keep the wheat sweet , and , in the second place, it might help the wheat o pick up a little moisture from the atmosphere. Wheat will take up more moisture by contact than by vapour. I have seen wheat in January weighing 180lbs., but weighed out in June July at 186lbs. Weather the original weight was correct or not is another matter. Wheat which has been exposed to the rain will invariably weigh51lbs or 61lbs, heavier afterwards. 3852. I notice in regard to the surpluses set down by the various firm in connection with the wheat acquired for the 1915-16 harvest, that in the case of Bell the surplus was .05, in the case of Darling .72, Dalgety 's .88, Dreyfus .47. and the Westralian Farmers .72.Yours worked out at about half per cent ., as you stated?— The percentages of surplus would depend entirely upon when that wheat was disposed of and to what place it was consigned. Some agent might dispose of their wheat to the local mills in winter time and so get a heavy in
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