Wheat (1) - Part 3

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This transcription is complete

SATURDAY, 17th AUGUST, 1918. (At Tambellup.)

Present: Hon. W. C. Angwin, M.L.C. (Chairman). Hon. J. F. Allen, M.L.C | S. McC. Brown, Esq., M.L.A. T. H. Harrison, Esq., M.L.A.

THOMAS STEWART, Officer in charge of the Wheat Stack, Tambellup, sworn and examined:

5923. By the CHAIRMAN: You have been in charge of this depot from its inception?—Yes.

5924. Have you been previously engaged in the wheat business?—I have had 17 years' experience. I was at Brookton handling wheat for Darling, Dreyfus. My experience has been in South Australia as well as in this State.

5925. What condition is the wheat in when it is delivered to you?—It was very good at the start. Lately it has been in a deplorable state. It as been wet and mouldy.

5926. Was the wheat wet on account of it being taken over the railway in the wet weather?—In one case, yes, and in the other getting it wet in the stacks.

5927. When the wheat came in wet what did you do to prevent it getting weevily or getting musty?—We up-ended it and re-conditioned it before stacking it.

5928. Have you had any difficulty at all with any of the acquiring agents or sub-agents?—No; I do not get into touch with them.

5929. You have an officer checking the dockage?—Yes, but I have had no trouble with him.

5930. Your dockage so far as he was concerned was satisfactory?—Yes.

5931. Could you tell us how your dockages compared with those of the sub-agents?—Only in one case was there a difficulty.

5932. Did this sample come out of a f.a.q. bag?—Yes.

5933. Is this a fair sample of the bag (wheat produced)?—Yes, a fair sample of several bags. It came from the one siding.

5934. The man who sampled that as f.a.q. must either not have known his business as an agent or he must have shown negligence?—He evidently did not know his business.

5935. Have you had much of this class of wheat?—Very little.

5936. By Mr. BROWN: What dockage was allowed on that?—Tenpence.

5937. By the CHAIRMAN: Have you had any delay here owing to want of trucks?—Frequently.

5938. Has there ever been a rush of trucks?—I have also had too many trucks, and between Tuesday at 5 o'clock and Wednesday at 1 o'clock 52 trucks came in.

5939. So that if trucks were held up it was due to the manner in which they were held up by the department?—I could have handled them better if they had been evenly distributed.

5940. Did they charge demurrage?—Yes, but I do not known what it was.

5941. You never received any complaint from the Railway Department during the stacking of this wheat that trucks remained here too long without being unloaded?—If they found that I could not get rid of them the wheat was diverted to another depot, but I never had complaints.

5942. Where does this wheat come from?—Ongerup, and as far as Lake Grace.

5943. Do you find the wheat is very moist coming from this district?—Yes, from Ongerup and Gnowangerup, but from the other districts it is not too bad.

5944. You are more liable to be affected with weevil here owing to moisture than other parts of the State?—I should think so.

5945. We found a little weevil in the stacks; has that made its appearance by reason of the wheat being brought here in dirty railway trucks?—I think so.

5946. Have you thought out any idea for destroying the weevil in the trucks?—I do not claim to be an authority on the destruction of weevil, but I think something should be done.

5947. I suppose you have had some trouble here as in other districts through want of covers?—Yes, that has caused a lot of damage to the wheat.

5948. Have you found it necessary to make any complaint on account of the way in which the agents have been delivering the wheat?—Yes, several complaints. Bags have burst and have come in wet and the wheat has been in a mouldy condition.

5949. Could this have been avoided?—I think so.

5950. Has this been owing to want of roofing?—I would not care to say. I think it was due to negligence on the part of the sub-agents. They did not exercise proper care.

5951. By Mr. BROWN: In regard to re-conditioning, what method do you adopt?—I get out all the good wheat, put good wheat in new bags, and the rest is put into a heap of sweepings.

5952. In regard to the whole of these stacks, has every one of these bags been sampled here?—Ninety per cent. have been sampled by the tally clerk, and I pay periodical visits.

5953. Is the tally clerk competent to judge of the quality of the wheat?—A sample is sent to the office and the sampler, if necessary, is assisted by myself and the Westeralian Farmers' man.

5954. The farmers have made no complaint in regard to the tally clerks' tallies generally?—No.

5955. Is he an experience man?—I think this was his first year. I trained him.

5956. Until this year he had no knowledge of f.a.q. wheat or otherwise?—Not to my knowledge.