8110. Has any disinfectant been tried?—I do not think that any disinfectant would be effective. You would need to open their mouths and shove it down their throats to make it effective.

8111. You agree that it is a serious matter?—I do. But it would not be a matter of very great importance if we were able to get the wheat away quickly.

8112. It would be a serious matter for the Railway Department if they were held to be liable for damage done to flour and foodstuffs by the presence of weevil in trucks?—It would.

8113. It shows that extreme measures should be taken by the department if only for their own protection?—You cannot expect the department to do impossibilities. If there were means by which the department could get rid of the weevil, they would be taken. If nothing can be done, we will want an Act of Parliament to protect us.

8114. Has your analyst discussed this matter with the Government Entomologist, Mr Newman?—Not that I am aware of.

8115. I suppose you know that Mr. Newman has given a good deal of consideration to this matter?—Yes. Our analyst conducted experiments in the presence of Mr. Baxter, Mr Keys, and Mr Pearse. That was in January last.

8116. By Hon. J. F. ALLEN: Have you heard anything about the experiments in connection with douching the trucks with a disinfectant?—No. You have to be very careful in douching with chemicals that you do not douch the truck away as well.

8117. Mr. Newman has been in touch with Mr. Rowley, the Analyst, and in the experiments they carried out, they destroyed weevil without effecting the timber or steel work of the truck?—I have not heard of those experiments.

8118. By the CHAIRMAN: I suppose they will come under your notice as soon as they are brought before the Commissioner.

(The witness retired).

———————

THURSDAY, 31st OCTOBER, 1918. (At Perth.) —————— Present: Hon. W. C. Angwin, M.L.A. (Chairman). Hon. J. F. Allen, M.L.C. S. M. BROWN, Esq., M.L.A. Hon. R. G. Ardagh, M.L.C. T. H. Harrison, Esq., M.L.A.

————————

JOSEPH MAUD SCOTT, Miller, sworn and examined:

8119. By the CHAIRMAN: You desire to put some evidence before the Commission?—Yes. I have been a miller and followed up milling ever since I have been in the country. I asked Mr. Gregory about 10 years ago if he was in favour of State milling at Menzies and he said it was not in his constituency. I have gone through the mills at Northam at different times and other mills. I do not see any improvement since I left the business. With regard to the handling of wheat, I went to the State Implement Works the other day and showed them how to make a hand topping barrow, so that one man can top wheat wherever he is. If he is loading up a dray, all he has to do is to put his wheat on the machine and wind it up to the height that he wants to lift it. He can top wheat for hours with this machine. It has been used in the warehouses in England. They pull up three bags at a time and land it on the top of the building where it is required.

8120. A man would need planks on the stacks in order to wheel it?—No, this is on the floor.

8121. By Mr HARRISON: It is really a bag elevator?—Yes; it lifts a bag to the height that a man wants to get it on to his back.

8122. Is it the old fashioned style of turning a handle and lifting a bag to the ratchet to hold it on the cogs?—It is held by ratchet wheels. With one of these machines a man can top his wheat and stack it in any part of the building.

8123. By the CHAIRMAN: They use elevators now?—You cannot do any thing with elevators. A warehouse is required for an elevator. When once an elevator gets hold of the wheat that is the end of any work.

8124. I mean the gantry elevators for the bags?—They are not a success.

8125. The wheat is generally landed on a platform to the height of a man's back?—I have seen them at work. You have to lay out a lot of money to go in for anything of this kind.

8126. By Mr. HARRISON: This hand power bag elevator would only be used on the mill floor for one individual?—It is used by one individual certainly, but a man can do a lot in a day by its aid.

8127. Would not two men, one lifting the bag on to the other's shoulder, do the work quicker?—It would be quicker.

8128. By the CHAIRMAN: Have you had any experience of bulk handling?—In all the mills that I have worked at, the bags never entered the building. I have had no experience of bulk handling, except in regard to taking the wheat from the bags into the elevators. It is shot out of the bags into a hopper and never handled again. I have only seen the suction pipe working once drawing the wheat.

8129. How long does the wheat remain in the bin once it is put there?—If you have the bins and elevators you can do anything you like with it. It can remain in the bins until you think it is bad and then shift it to another bin to find out if this is so. The mills always keep a safety bin. They also have mixers. I have seen one lot of American, one of Indian, one of English and say one of Australian wheat mixed together by the mixers.

8130. The wheats are kept separate at first?—Until they get into the mixer. Prior to that they are kept in separate bins.

8131. What mills have you worked in?—I worked with Rishworth Bros. of Leeds before I came here.

8132. Was it customary to keep the whole of the wheats in these hoppers?—They had a warehouse on the canal bank and as the wheat came in there it used to go into the bins. It is not customary there to use your own bags. Bags were supplied, for instance, by the North Eastern railway line. They were supplied on the understanding that if not returned within 14 days a charge of so much a day had to be paid upon them. The bags did not come into the mill but the wheat was tipped into the hopper. The teamster brings in 25 bags at a time, that is 50 bags in two loads, and the bags are taken away as soon as the wheat is tipped out.

8133. The wheat comes up the canal in a ship and is taken to the elevator, and then has to be bagged there in order to go to the mill. It is in bulk then and can be taken in bulk anywhere that is required. There was, however, no bulk wheat on the Leeds and Liverpool works up to the time I came out here. All the wheat came in bags. Everywhere the company found bags for the wheat on the terms I have stated.

8134. These bags are only used so far as the wheat is concerned to bag up wheat that has arrived in bulk, in order to send it to the inland mills?—Yes.

8135. If the wheat had come in bags there would be no necessity to hire bags?—That is so. When the first consignment of Russian wheat that I remember arrived, it was the first I saw to be sent in bags.

8136. You find that it is necessary to occasionally aerate the wheat by shifting it from one bin to another?—Yes, with a Eureka machine you can clean the wheat.

8137. Have you any trouble with weevil there?—There is weevil in every country you go into. When the Russian wheat came there the men almost refused to handle it.

8138. Have you had any experience in this country in milling?—No, only looking through.

(The witness retired.)