WHEAT AND ITS PESTS. 7 



Sensational reports have appeared occasionally in the 

 papers about the severe losses incurred by the Government 

 in purchasing a much larger amount of wheat in Australia 

 than they were at all likely to be able to ship. This was 

 hardly the case ; the intensive submarine action had not begun 

 when purchases were made in October and November, 1916. 

 It was hoped when the Royal Commission was set up that 

 the bulk of that large purchase would be shipped in twelve 

 months. The price paid the Australian Government compared 

 very favourably with that paid to the United States of America, 

 and even allowing for loss of interest, cost of holding, and 

 loss by weevil, etc., the purchase has proved an excellent one 

 for the British Exchequer, and incidently helped Australia 

 to preserve her financial stability. The loss that the British 

 Government will be called upon to bear will be small, certainly 

 less than 2 per cent. The smallness of the loss will be found 

 to be largely due to the measures initiated by the Royal 

 Commission to combat the evil. 



Early in the spring of 1917, when.it was found that the 

 wheat could not be shipped as rapidly as it had been hoped, 

 Professor Maxwell Lefroy was asked to go out to Australia 

 to report on what he recommended should be done after 

 studying the problem on the spot. He w T ent first to the 

 United States of America to glean any information possible 

 there. The Royal Commission also sent out a first-class 

 commercial representative, Mr. R. A. Love, to deal with any 

 business problems that might arise. 



The results of their investigations proved eminently 

 successful. Professor Lefroy 's methods of treating the infested 

 grain were : — 



(1) To temporarily seal up the more heavily infested lots 



with a covering of malthoid and to pump in C0 2 . 

 The wheat was then left until such time as it 

 could be more effectively dealt with by 



(2) Passing it through a heated sterilizing chamber at a 



temperature of 140-145° F. 



