576 MAIZE 



CHAP, ing so increasingly the practice in practically 'all other parts 

 of the world — that is, if the shipping companies insist upon 

 carrying the grain in bags " {Price, 2). The question is one 

 which should be decided as early as possible, before vested 

 interests and outlay on rolling stock, warehouses, and ma- 

 chinery make it too expensive to change. There is no question 

 that whichever system is finally adopted, a good deal of saving 

 in time and expense can be effected as compared with that 

 incurred by present methods. Economical handling must be 

 adopted if a large export trade is to be built up. 



533. Time Saved by Bulk Handling. — Bulk grain can be 

 loaded in at most two-thirds of the time required for bagged 

 grain. At Bahia Blanca it has been found that the capacity 

 of the electric conveyors is 150 tons per hour of bulk grain, 

 but only 100 tons per hour of bagged grain ; at some ports 

 the movement is said to be more rapid. This fact is of great 

 importance in regulating the cost of export. If a ship takes 

 six days to load and six to unload a cargo of bagged grain, 

 instead of four days required for each operation of handling 

 bulk grain, the extra cost to the shipping company, which is 

 ultimately borne by the farmer, would be large. 



534. Saving in Cost by Bulk Handling. — A competent au- 

 thority, of many years' standing in the handling of maize ship- 

 ments, calculates the saving to South Africa by bulking the maize 

 cargoes, at £1,22$ for every steamer of 6,000 tons capacity. 



" Bulk grain is worked very much quicker in some places 

 than is the case at Bahia Blanca, and it can, I am sure, be 

 safely stated that as a rule it is done in one-third of the time 

 that it takes for bagged grain, and therefore that saving, alone, 

 at ports of shipment and discharge, would justify bulk ship- 

 ments. 



"Take a 6,000-ton capacity steamer. She would cost in 

 port to her owners about ^40 per diem and would save at the 

 loading and discharging ports an aggregate of eight days with a 

 bulk grain cargo, compared with a bag cargo, and with the extra 

 cargo displacing the bags, say 56 tons, besides the reduced 

 stevedoring cost at both ends, i.e. from oxl. with bags to 6d. 

 with bulk, the aggregate monetary saving to her would ap- 

 proximate £500. 



" Then South Africa's direct gain would be a saving on 



