Wheat (1) - Part 3

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6071. Is there anything else you want to bring before the Commission?—I would like to make a statement in regard to the stacking of wheat. It is more in the nature of a complaint. I sent two complaints to the General Manager regarding the way in which the wheat had been stacked here. Mr. Forrester and I have not been hitting it very well, because I objected to the method he adopted of handling the wheat. During February 18,19,20 about 23,000 bags of wheat came here in a more or less wet condition. It was wet shortly before, when 2½in. of rain fell in three days. I gave instructions to the samplers and tally clerks to look out for wet wheat and to be sure that the stackers did not put it into the main stacks. I found that Mr. Forrester countermanded those instructions and said that the wheat was to go in, and it did go in. I reported this matter to Inspector Gillespie and he reported it to the General Manager. One day there was a stack in B shed abutting on the alley way and the stack was badly built. They dismantled it to rebuild it, and in that bay alone I counted six tiers of black, rotten bags of wheat, probably 200 or 300 bags in one bay, The result of stacking wet wheat. I met Inspector Gillespie and advised him to along. He saw some of this wheat, which exposed. About a month ago the members of the advisory committee came here and had a stack pulled down for inspection. I only on good word that they were coming on the day of their arrival, which was Friday. That is pay day and I am generally busy. Mr. Keys sent word that I could have any stack pulled down. We pulled down a stack next to the one exposed. When they opened bay 165 it showed only a few bags of damaged wheat. On looking into returns I found that only 102 bags went into that bay, and of course that was no criterion. There is considerably more stacked in some of the other bays and I should strongly advise that two or three bays be opened up in B shed, because I am certain there is a lot of damaged wheat there. I only picked out the numbers of these bays for the period that I was certain wet wheat was stacked. I should advise having bay No. 154 opened. At the beginning of the season I asked Mr. Forrester to make a reject stack for us, but he always kept putting it off, and when samplers would reject some bags as being too inferior, when their backs were turned those bags disappeared, and we presumed they went into the main stacks. There were sweepings going into the main stacks. A lot of the sweepings, according to the samplers, went into the stacks when anyone came up to inspect the stacks because then there would be a general clean up. I spoke to Mr. Forrester later on about the reject stack. I said it had always been the practise to keep rejects by themselves, but he said "There is no time to reject wheat; it can be sampled when its going out." Again after a lot rain has fallen, the usual practise is to up-end all the first tier and probably the second tier of the stacks, But I do not remember Mr. Forrester having had that done at all.

6072. By the CHAIRMAN: Did you report this right away when it came under your notice?—I did not report about the bags not being up-ended. That was Mr. Forrester's duty, but it was one of the things I could not allow to pass.

6073. By Mr. HARRISON: Did you notice that the water drifted under the shed to any great distance?—Only when there was a driving rain. The shed was not covered then. That is the reason why the bags should be up-ended. I was after one thing, and that was effectiveness. Mr. Forrester was after speed. His object was to get the wheat in at as low a rate as possible and, in my opinion, in order to do that, he sacrificed everything.

6074. By Hon. J. F. ALLEN: There was no one individual in charge of he depot?—Evidently not. Before I came up here Mr. Keys told me that Mr. Forrester was in charge of the stacking and the lumpers and that I was not to interfere.

6075. There are two distinct positions, neither one controlling the other, and no one in general control?—Mr. Forrester used to go to the tally clerks and tell them he was boss here, and that they had to do as he told them. I naturally got my back up. They were under my control and that was clearly understood. Mr. Forrester also told me that once the tally clerks left the office they were under his control. I objected and told him they were not under his control.

6076. By the CHAIRMAN: Mr. Keys should have settled that?— He could have done so but he never did.

6077. Did you complain to him?—Oh, yes, I complained to him in the earlier part of the season when I found that Mr. Forrester was assuming the whole of the control interfering with tally clerks. The letter I got back from Mr. Keys was quite apart from what I wrote about. He said he had neither time nor the inclination to hear of any private disputes which were going on, but if we neglected our work we would be deal with such officers. I would point out that this was not a private dispute. It was a dispute connected with the work of the depot. They were not personal quarrels.

6078. You think that Mr Keys should have told you definitely who was in charge?—A mistake was made at the beginning. One man should have been in charge and we would have known what we were doing.

6079. By Mr. BROWN: When Mr. Keys wrote to you about the depot superintendent, to whom did you think he referred?—That letter was addressed to the superintendent; it was not addressed to me. I assumed he meant me because that is my part of the work.

6080. Who appointed you to the present position?—Mr. Keys, just before Christmas.

6081. Was Mr. Forrester appointed subsequently or previously to your appointment?—I cannot say.

6082. Were you a buyer for any of the shipping agents?— Yes, and also managed two depots for W. R. Cave & Co.

6083. Were you ever engaged at a port?—Not in this State except on one occasion; I was inspector for Dreyfus & Co. Before I came here.

6084. How many samplers are there at this depot?—More than three. Some of the tally clerks were experienced men, and if they were not tallying they would go on sampling.

6085. Who made their appointments?—I did.

6086. You were authorised by the Scheme to make these appointments?—Yes. The instructions were that the tally clerks were to do their own sampling, but I found it impossible for them to do that. They were a poor lot of tally clerks. I used to watch, and I saw that very few bags in the trucks were being sampled. One sampler and I used to go through the whole of the wheat over the top of them and we got knowledge of what the trucks were like, and we used to look out for barely or smut and mark the trucks so that these men would take particular notice of them. I wrote to Mr. Keys and told him that these men were not able to do the work, and he replied that if there were reliable samplers about I was to employ them. Then we had as many as four and five at work at a time.

6087. Was it part of the sampler's duty to report irregularities in the way of stacking wet wheat?—Yes, they used to tell me.

6088. Would you make a record of their verbal information?—Yes, but after that I got them memo books so that they might make notes of these things. These books were passed in every night, and the matters were recorded in the office. We never recorded wet wheat. The statements had more to do with the presence of weevil.

6089. Then you have no record of the statement you made that when the sampler's backs were turned the wheat disappeared?—I hardly think so. With regard to the weevily wheat our first instructions were to refuse delivery from the Westralian Farmers of weevily wheat. We did that. Later on we got instructions to consign it to the mills. We used to pass out pitted wheat and also wheat with weevils crawling on the bags only. That used to interfere with speeding up of the work here. It was a shame to be sending good wheat to the mills, wheat which had weevil only on the bags. The usual method is to brush the bags and stack them. I told Mr. Forrester that, and he said, why not make a separate stack for them? I do not knows that he knows much about the quality of wheat. I wired down for instructions regarding this wheat, and asked if we could stack the bags separately, and brush the bags. I got a reply in the affirmative. That was done for a considerable time. Later on Mr. Gillespie came up, and Mr. Forrester