18 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Juny, 1902. 
It was also thought that the bags should not be mixed. That is a very good 
plan, and if the wheat farmers of the Downs were polled I think they would 
yote for that system in preference to elevators. But, still, Mr. Thynne is in 
advance of that, and his system of elevators appears to be practicable. These 
small elevators he speaks of would not cost more than £800 or £900, 
and I really cannot see why the system cannot be brought into operation. Of 
course the bag will have to be used in the conveyance of the wheat from the 
- farm to the railway station, and I advocate the use of the 2-bushel or 
Californian bag instead of the 4-bushel bag. Just look at the chaff bag 
and the old chaff bale. No one would go back to the old bale now that 
they have the chaff bag. If you once had the 2-bushel bag, you would never 
go back to the 4-bushel. Our present bags were made to suit the old bushel 
measure, but when you have a small spout to pour the wheat into the bag I do 
not see why we now want a bag with a 2-foot mouth. There would be less 
sewing, for one thing, if we had a smaller bag. It must not, be forgotten that 
the Government have promised to put up an elevator as a trial on one of our 
stations on the Downs. They promised us that. when Mr, Thynne read his 
paper down in Brisbane, and I hope they will be kept to their promise, although 
it is a mistake to think that we want money from the*Government. We are 
prepared to pay the Government fair interest on their money; and storage 
sheds, as well as elevators, would pay good interest on their cost. One thing 
I would like to mention here, although it may be somewhat foreign to our 
subject, and that is, the necessity for the periodic checking of the scales in use 
at our country railway stations. ’ 
Mr. W. Arxrnson (Danderoo): Until recently I was rather against 
elevators, because of the necessity for handling the grain between the farm and 
the railway station. The difficulty, I think, could be overcome, however, by 
the thresher putting the wheat straight into an elevator. It already puts the 
straw into an elevator, and why not the grain? It would not cost much to 
construct such buildings on a farm, and I think I could put up one on my place, 
to store the wheat I grow, for less than £100. A farmer who grows 2,000 
bags of wheat a year could well afford, if necessary, to put up four of these 
elevators. The expense of handling after that would be very little, and the 
saving of expense on the railway would be very great. The cost of bags is a 
big item. A farmer has to pay 6d. for every bag he uses, and the expenditure 
is a dead loss, as he never sees the bag again after he has sold the wheat. If 
the elevator system had been in operation in Australia before wheat-growing 
started in Queensland, the probability is that we would never have thought of 
bags in this State. The immediate expense of introducing elevators is a 
drawback, but there is such a thing as taxing an industry for its own benefit, 
and we all know the benefits that have accrued to the meat and dairy industries 
through the operation of the Meat and Dairy Produce Encouragement Act. 
If the Government are going to take this matter up, I think they will have to 
tax the farmers to provide funds for the erection of elevators. Supposing a tax 
of 1d. a bushel is imposed. That may be a big tax, but it only means 4d. 
a bag, and that does not mean the cost of one bag for one season’s supply. 
Mr. Frep. Smirn (Crow’s Nest): In England these elevators are called 
granaries or grain warehouses. They are built beside a river or a railway, and 
the farmer’s wheat is shot into bins. With respect to the difficulty that has 
been raised relative to the conveyance of the wheat from the farm to the 
elevator, I may say that in England there is a bag company, and the same 
people who own the elevator will also own thousands of bags. When you go 
to the owner of a thresher you will apply for 100 or 1,000 bags, as the case 
may be, and these you have the loan of for a number of days at 3d. per bag. 
Of course if they are not returned within so many days you have to pay another 
4d. When you have used your bags for the conveyance of the grain to the 
elevator you return them and they are rented to the next man, so the question 
of bagging in considering this elevator question need not frighten anyone. 
One advantage of the elevator system is, that a good many people -in this 
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