and so will not secure any saving under the bulk handling scheme. You asked me what I thought of stacking. I think the wheat should be stacked on good sites as near as possible to where it is grown. There has not been sufficient research work to see if we cannot beat the weevil. There has been scientific research, but we want some plain, simple experiment which will give a practical result. I am of opinion that it would have paid handsomely to build skeleton stacks at the depots four or five bags on the outer side of the shed to act as walls and fill them in with loose wheat. It would cost much less to bag that wheat than to re-condition 25 per cent. of it. I told Mr Sibbald that if he would put up £100 I would put up £100 and would obtain another £100 from a timber merchant in order that we might carry out some silo experiments. I thought, and I still think, that we could build a good strong silo for 1s. 6d. a bag. The officers of the department seem to think they are dealing with a small job, forgetting that it runs into millions. Mr Taylor, in his evidence, said that no local firm had had sufficient experience to ensure safe and long storage. I had previously stored wheat for 18 months, and I applied that experience to the Kumminin dumps. As to inspection, my idea is that we cannot get too much of it.

6277. By the CHAIRMAN: You say there has been no research work. Have you seen this pamphlet?—No, I would like to read that.

6278. You think it necessary that the Government should keep inspectors to watch the work of the agents?—Certainly.

6279. Do you, as agent, recommend the Scheme to adopt a running bulk sample at the depots?—I have not a clear conception of what a running bulk sample means.

6280. It means a few bags here and there instead of every bag?—When I find an agent sending me good wheat I can rely on such a test as that, but when I smell mustard, I look for mustard.

6281. We have it in evidence that the acquiring agents got that condition included in the agreement?—It sounds very much like one of Mr Keys' phrases. It is not one of mine. To sample every bag would be reducing things to a farce.

6282. Your sub-agent does that for you?—Not every bag. Every sample taken is sent to my office. If under the Government scheme the agent has not made a twopenny dock on wheat which we think should have a twopenny dock, we dock the agent.

6283. For years past in this State the Fremantle and Perth Chambers of Commerce have fixed the f.a.q. standard?—Yes.

6284. And that standard has been recognised in the wheat markets of the world?—Yes.

6285. Do you think that once that standard is fixed it should be adhered to?—Absolutely.

6286. You do not think that any Minister should have power to reduce it?—No. It is a recognised standard.

6287. You think it would be an injury to Western Australian wheat, so far as the world's markets are concerned, in the future, if it should become known that the Minister had reduced the standard after it had been fixed?—Yes. I do not think you ought to reduce the standard at all. Western Australian wheat is particularly good wheat and of a very high grade. We are very free from impurities, such as wild oats and drake, more so than any other State of the Commonwealth. We hardly ever see wild oats in the grain. It seems that the wild oats shed themselves before the wheat is stripped. Drake is not anything like as bad here as, say, the Wimmera country. In an ordinary season very little wheat goes on to the market which is not fit for milling or shipping. I have seen seasons when there has not been enough inferior wheat to supply the poultry trade.

6288. With regard to weevil, you suggested that stacks should be put up in such a way that loose grain was put in between the bags. Do you think it would be beneficial if all the spaces were filled up with loose grain?—I did not mean filling up spaces in that way. I meant filling up the inside when the wheat was in the shed after the walls of wheat were built. I have done that as a preventative against mice. I would not do it in the open but only in the case of shed-stored wheat, where it would not get away.

6289. If a shed was built with a floor that could carry it, do you think that would be beneficial. It would admit the air?—Good dunnage will do that. I am a great believer in sulphur and have proved its usefulness. It has a tendency to destroy the elasticity of the gluten, I understand, but I would sooner see that than see the wheat eaten with weevil as at present.

6290. You would not allow your agents to send weevily wheat into the main Depots?—No.

6291. They were instructed not to send it to you without notifying you?—Yes.

6292. By Mr BROWN : When the Chamber of Commerce fixed the standard at, say, 61, is that sent to the continental markets as the Western Australian standard for that particular year?—Yes.

6293. If that standard was reduced to 59, and the world's buyers were not made aware of it, what influence would that have in future years?—These buyers generally know what they are getting. I cannot see why the standard should be reduced to 59. It is very hard to get wheat as low at that.

6294. Do you think if it were known to the world's buyers that the f.a.q. was 61, and then altered to 59, that it would be detrimental to the growers?—Yes. It would fetch down the standard of Western Australian wheat, and might indicate that there had been some tinkering with it.

6295. If that had been done, the world's buyers should have been notified?—Yes. This was done in Melbourne on one occasion. Heavy rains had come along in the middle of January, just after the f.a.q. had been fixed. The wheat was all very much bleached. A fresh standard for the year was then set, and this was the standard for the year. The Government samples were, I think, withdrawn.

(The witness retired.)

The Commission adjourned.