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1 Sepr., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 173 
too little experience to enable us to assume that it can be successfully done 
without any extra precautions. This is a question that a few trial shipments 
would settle at once and for ever at a comparatively small cost.* 
England, however, is not the only market. The requirement of the 
colonial market is at present larger than the exportable surplus, and elevators 
are just as useful in handling the locally consumed grain as in dealing with the 
export surplus. There is a widespread notion that the elevator is a machine 
for exporting grain, and is practically useful for no other purpose. This is far 
from being the case. In the United States, for instance, the country elevators 
would continue to exist and thrive if that country did not export a single bushel 
of grain, and, as has been said, the country elevators are the main feature of 
its elevator system. 
It does not do to forget that China and Japan are importers of wheat. To 
meet the demands of these markets elevators have been erected on the Pacific 
Coast of the United States, and grain is already being shipped from there to 
Asia in considerable quantities. Preparations are being made to carry this 
wheat in bulk—if, indeed, this is not already accomplished. Weare nearer the 
Asiatic market than the United States, and should be able to compete with them 
for this trade. ‘his wheat export trade to Asia is certainly one in which the 
distance objection would not hold. a 
4. That we have no ships suitable for carrying in bulk.—This objection 
rest on misinformation. Suitable ships are available. They may not be in 
port at the present moment in sufficient numbers, but with moderate notice 
they could easily be mustergl. There are companies trading regularly to 
Australia which carry grain in"bulk on the Atlantic, and in their case it would 
only be necessary to divert suitable vessels to Australia. There are many 
“tramp” steamers engaged in carrying grain on the Atlantic with no binding 
contract as to a particular route or trade. These would certainly put in an 
appearance as soon as it became known that we have a grain trade belonging to 
their class. 
5. Company monopolies in freight would be encouraged.—\f the foregoing 
objection with regard to ships does not hold good, this present objection falls 
to the ground. Moreover, supposing there was but one company that carried 
in bulk from a given port, the producers would not be wholly at the mercy of that 
company, because the present carrying vessels constitute a competing factor. 
The elevators can deliver in bags as well as in bulk, and can bag more cheaply 
than can the producer. Hence the company carrying in bulk would be 
compelled to carry at a rate competing with present charges. 
Even if bulk-carrying vessels were not at hand at the required moment 
any other available craft could therefore be utilised at the expense of bagging. 
6. That the grain would heat, rot, mould, shrink, and get weevily, and be 
attacked by rats, mice, and moths.—Grain in bags is equally subject to these 
evils. Grain in bulk is less liable to attacks of weevils, moths, rats, and mice 
than grain in bags, and accordingly suffers less. The ventilation furnished in 
stacks of bagged wheat may in some cases be beneficial as regards heating, 
moulding, and so on, but in other cases it is harmful. It is certamly easier to 
check these diseases in bulked wheat than in bagged wheat. In an elevator 
the bins can be emptied and the grain dried at a minimum of cost. Mr. Crago, 
of Bathurst, has used wooden silos for storage of grain for upwards of ten 
years, and has had no special difficulty from any of these sources. 
The fact that our grain is usually harvested in a drier state than in most 
other countries is in favour of its freedom from mouldiness when stored in 
elevators. 
on a 
* The experiment of shipping grain in bulk by the White Star s,s. ‘‘Persic” has conclusively 
demonstrated the feasibility of bulk carriage from Australia to Europe. When that vessel 
delivered her wheat cargo at Liverpool, it turned out in splendid condition. It was landed on 
the quay by elevator, and, notwithstanding the unfortunate condition of the market at the time, 
the price realised for the bulk shipment was 27s. per quarter, which was considered highly 
satisfactory. The shipment was a complete success.—Hd. @. A.J, 
