1287. You could do that work for 1½d. per bushel ?—If I had it as a monopoly I could do the whole thing for 1d.—that is, as they are doing it to-day. If I had all the roofing to do, it would cost a little more. 1288. By Mr. HARRISON : Do you think a saving could be made to the Pool by local sales of pick-up wheat ?—Very often, yes. 1289. Have you known of any wheat going away which would scarcely pay for the cost of putting it on rails, and the freight ?—No. 1290. Have you seen any badly wetted pick-up wheat going away this year ?—Yes, but it was the wheat of the previous Pool, not of the present one. It was some flooded stuff at Badjeling. I do not know what they did with it, but it was quite black. 1291. There are cases in which damaged wheat could be better sold locally than by being sent to Perth ?—Certainly. 1292. By the CHAIRMAN : The present sub-agents are the secretaries and managers of the various co-operative societies ?—Yes. 1293. If last year's system is perpetuated, it is possible that a number of the men handling the wheat next year will be new to the game ?—Certainly. In my district they have had two different men this year, neither of whom has had any experience. 1294. Under such conditions, is there not a grave danger of wheat below standard being accepted ?—It is bound to come about. 1295. Then owing to the want of knowledge on the part of agents, the State is liable to make a loss ?—Certainly. That is to say, if the agreement absolves these people from all responsibility. 1296. The wheat is sampled at the depôts ?—Yes. 1297. It is generally admitted that with one subagent at each station the wheat can be more cheaply handled ?—It all depends upon the interpretation. The bulk of the experienced men along that line have enlisted, and in consequence we have a large number of inexperienced men, some of them returned soldiers, and they are induced to accept a price which cannot pay them. I know of one returned soldier who took a contract from the co-operative company at so low a price that he lost £15 on the transaction. He was being paid exactly one half of what I used to pay my men. 1298. Then the acquiring agents are covering any deficiency in the price they themselves accepted by sweating the men handling the wheat ?—The man who takes on the job of handling is the man who is losing. It cannot pay him at existing rates. 1299. These co-operative societies have not handled the wheat themselves, but have sub-let it ?—They are in much the same position as I was. I had picked men at the sidings, but I visited them regularly. The present acquiring agents have sub-let the handling of the wheat, and in some the local secretary does take the trouble to occasionally go into the yard; in other cases he does not. 1300. It was laid down this year that there should not be more than one agent at each siding where there is less than 50,000 bushels of wheat to be handled. Do you approve of that ?—Certainly, because with competition there is only one man who is going to fall in, and that is the sub-agent. 1301. If you had a monopoly you could handle the wheat much more cheaply ?—Yes. With competition I would not get any more profit at 1½d. than I could get at 1d. if I had the monopoly. 1302. Do you think the price the co-operative companies are paid is sufficient for the work ?—I think ½d. per bushel direct into trucks is too small; it ought to be ¾d. But I think 1d. into the stack without having to roof is sufficient as stations; at sidings it all depends upon what happens with your labour. 1303. So really the acquiring agents, the Westralian Farmers, Ltd., are handling the wheat at a reduced rate at the expense of the Farmers' Co-operative Societies in the country ? —I would not say that, because I myself would be prepared to do it at the price they are receiving. 1304. But if the acquiring agents pay too small an amount for the handling of the wheat, the farmers must lose ? —But that is the lumper, not the Co-operative Society. 1305. Do you think the Pool officers are keeping the country contractors up to the required standards in taking charge of the wheat ? —That is more than I can say. I have seen Mr. Sabine, of the Wheat Pool, continually at them in the Quairading yard. 1306. Do you think they have kept the sub-agents up?—In view of the time at the disposal, he has done his best. 1307. You do not think any leniency had been shown this time ?—No nor do I think they have been hard upon them. They seem to be very fair. Then the Westralian Farmers, Ltd., have their own inspectors. 1308. There has been no favouritism in any way ?—No. 1309. By Mr. HARRISON : If a sub-agent is losing money, would it not be principally on account of the farmers not bringing in their wheat sufficiently fast to keep his men employed ?—Yes. 1310. I know that in certain centres, where the delay in delivery has occurred, it has materially altered the dividend of the sub-agents out of the wheat ?—That should not be the case, because the sub-agent takes no risk at all. He puts a man on at so much per bag. No man with any brains would pay wages, for he would lose if he did so. 1311. Wages have been paid ?— Then those who paid them did not know their business. 1312. Were the men in your district on contract ?—Yes, so far as I know. There was not a man in the Quairading district who was not on contract. The Bruce Rock people paid the best wages, and the Kwolyin the worst. (The witness retired.)

JOHN PETER STRATTON, Farmer, Benjaberring, sworn and examined: 1313. By the CHAIRMAN : I believe you have some communication to make to this Commission regarding the handling of the Wheat Scheme ?—Firstly, I wish to touch upon the old system. In bygone days, when the competitive agents were operating the farmers generally were not satisfied with the treatment, inasmuch as we were always at variance over the weights. The position then prevailing was that no disinterested person stood between the buyer and the wheat producer to decide the issue as to weighting the wheat. In other parts of the world a disinterested man comes and scales. It is only the farmer who has to suffer that method of doing business, where the man who buys the commodity scales it to suit himself. Usually it is the man selling the commodity who does the scaling. That is the reason why we have cried out for co-operative handling. Any opposition that may levelled at the co-operative people is surely foreign, because the farmers themselves are the people who brought into being the co-operative companies now handling the farmers' wheat. Further, I wish to repudiate any charges which have been levelled at the local companies, to the effect that they have accepted wheat which was not f.a.q., and have issued interims against that. That is surely untrue. If the farmers, by handling their own wheat, gain nothing beyond the assurance of correct and accurate weights, they have achieved a great deal. There are other points bearing on the industry which are vital, but I do not want to make statements which will clash with business transactions of the past. However, I desire to make it clear that we farmers are standing solidly behind the co-operative people, because we realise that the amount paid in the past for receiving our wheat was excessive. The figures shown by some co-operative companies after only one year's operation bear me out. One company, which conducted the business of 20 farmers and acquired their wheat for one year, 30,000 bags, after paying fully, for all labour, paying higher rates than ever previously paid by sub-agents, showed a substantial profit balance. In the past the agents employed sub-agents. The agent himself was paid a certain commission by the acquiring agent. When the co-operative companies came in as receiving agents, they had to find or employ labour. I claim that we paid higher rates for labour than the original sub-agents paid. The company I refer to, after employing men and purchasing its plant, won through with £204. That refers to the 1916-17 season. The point I wish to stress is that the retaining of the £204 amongst the local people represents a better state of things than that which obtained in