bosses, it has not always worked out with the same degree of satisfaction to the ordinary shareholder.The system of dockage that we had in force this year was very unfair and unjust. It was even worse at sidings — I refer to unattended sidings. 1104. That is not attended by a railway official?— Where there is no station master. One man is placed in charge there by a local co-operative company at a fixed wage , and he in turn had to judge the weight to the best of his ability and practically used his own discretion. In many cases the feeling of dissatisfaction ran very high. While the local co-operative companies claimed to have saved us a fair bit in the handling of wheat , none have paid a dividend to my knowledge , and while they claimed to have saved us 2d. a bushel they cannot tell us why that has not been added to our advance. We still have the advance of 3s. I ma not wishing to decry the benefits to be derived from co-operation , but I think when it is given a monopoly it is liable to be abused. A little bit of competition is better than co-operation. 1105. Your first complaint was the lateness in the start; that would not be altogether due to those handling the wheat — the company ? — I spoke to Mr. Baxter this morning and we discussed the matter and he said it was not. I can only give the case as it affects myself. I had a paddock with 100 acres of fallow in the middle of it. Off the 500 acres I had to strip I had nearly 1,000 bags and i had to get it off early. On the 29th November I had finished harvesting that wheat and I wanted to land it at the siding. I wwnt to the local co-operative company and I found they had instructions not to take delivery. I went to the station-master because I saw a lot of sleepers lying in the yard and there was plenty of room , and i aksed to be given permission to stack the wheat at the siding at my own expense. Several farmers were in the same boat as myself , but I was absolutely refused . I approached them later on, after the wheat had been in the paddock a fortnight , and the white ants had started at the bottom . I said ," the wheat has to be removed." We had a meeting and wired to the Minister , but nothing came of it. The station-master persisted in keeping the gate locked. I rented a shed in the town and put a portion of the wheat in it. On the 25th February I carted the wheat from that shed and stacked it in the station yard. I stacked the whole of the 700 bags there. which was left there until a few weeks ago. At Ejanding one man started carting and got 500 bags at the siding before the station-master noticed it, and he was told to remove it. 1106. What you intend us to draw from that is that from the 30th November to the 25th February the acquiring agents were not in a position to take your wheat? — They were in a position to take it on the 4th January , but I had finished that paddock then. I was not in a position to deliver it to that date. 1107. They do not start early enough? — The first year I could not deliver a lot of wheat when I wanted to. 1108. What is the first date you want to deliver at? — The first week in December. 1109. You said when there was competition there was no difficulty . They catered for your requirements ,in what way? — They always had a staff of lumpers there and everything was ready to take delivery of the wheat. 1110. There was no provision made for it on this occasion? — Not until after the 4th January . Not only did they refuse to carter for us , but they would not let us put it there at our own expense.