172 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 SEpr., 1902. 
Elevators have been introduced into the State of Texas, and have been 
successful there. I know of no nearer parallel to the case of New South 
Wales. The climates, populations, and social conditions of the two States are 
in many ways similar. The Texas wheat crop, in 1899, was 9,000,000 bushels. 
To this must be added several million bushels which would come in from 
Oklahama. Texas, and that part of Oklahama served by the Texan country 
elevators and the Galveston terminal elevators, make up an area about equal to 
that of New South Wales, as will be seen by the following table :— 
Area in Square 
——) Miles. Population. Wheat Crop. 
- 1890. 1899, 
AUN South Wales me in ie 310,000 1,180,009 13,500,000 
exas cn an ae tn ate 
265,000 2,235,523 9,000,500 
From the above table it will be seen that the areas, population, and wheat 
crops in the two States furnish a fair basis of comparison. Unfortunately, 
however, the Texas railways cannot fairly be compared with those in Australia 
in considering the elevator question, because the railways of Texas are now, 
and were at the time of the introduction there of the elevator system, connected 
with the other railways of the United States, and in consequence cars from 
other parts of the country could be run into Texas to meet the growth and 
emergencies of the elevators. When we consider the fact that much of the 
expense of inaugurating the elevator system in New South Wales must go 
toward paying for suitable rolling-stock, we see how careful we must be in 
drawing conclusions from the above comparison. 
Notwithstanding this drawback, the comparison is worth making, and 
teaches that, if the necessary rolling-stock is provided, the elevator system can 
be profitably applied to an annual product of nine to fifteen million bushels on 
an area equal to, and populated like, that of New South Wales. 
What is the minimum quantity of wheat that can be profitably handled by 
an elevator? This question is one that must be answered according to 
surrounding circumstances. The manager of a large Liverpool storage and 
elevator company told me that, no matter what was ultimately to be done with 
even so small a quantity as a single cargo of bagged wheat received in Liverpool, 
the best thing to do first is to bulk it. Wheat from Australia, for instance, is 
unbagged at the ship’s rail and shot into punts, and elevated, weighed, examined, 
and graded, no matter if it is to be sold again in bags the next day, as sometimes 
occurs. 
A flood of light is thrown on this subject by the results of private 
enterprise in New South Wales. As pointed out in another part of this article, 
several small elevators have already been constructed in this State by enterprising 
millers, and in each case the owner pronounces his elevator a marked success. 
If these elevators of some 75,000 bushels’ capacity are a success in connection 
with flour-mills, what stands in the way of their successful introduction to a 
larger sphere? If it is economical to handle the grain in bulk in the 
comparatively small quantity used by a single flour-mill, how. much more so 
should it be to handle in the same manner all the grain produced in the State. 
I do not forget that the handling of wheat in a flour-mill differs from that 
for purely commercial purposes. Making full allowance for this fact, there is 
such a close resemblance as, in view of the success of these small Sydney eleva- 
tors, to nullify the objection so frequently raised by those who consider that 
our wheat crop or wheat export is too small to justify the use of elevators. 
3. Our distance from the market is too great.—That depends upon what 
market is meant. Jf England alone is referred to, this objection certainly may 
have force, but it cannot be denied that the carriage of grain in bulk across the 
equator, and on voyages of forty days or more, is a matter in which we have 
