THE CANTERBURY CORN EXCHANGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9254, 7 January 1889, Page 5

THE CANTERBURY CORN EXCHANGE.

[BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Christchurch, Saturday. The annual meeting of the Canterbury Corn Exchange was held to-day. The chairman's report stated there had been an increase of members, but a slight falling off in the amount of subscriptions. He urged the members to make every exertion to seoure the success of the Dunedin Exhibition. He also said the system of railway weighing is still very unsatisfactory as between buyers and sellers, so much depending upon how and when trucks are tared and the state of tho weather. When weighing produce often as much as 3cwt to ocwt in each truck will be the difference of tare weight and that supplied by tho Railway Department. Complaints are also numerous as to carelessness of railway people in putting clean sacks of corn in dirty coal trucks without keepiug them properly swept and cleaned. Shipmasters take advantage of this, and in such cases decline to give " clean" receipts for produce. It is to be regretted that more reliance cannot be placed upon our annual grain statistics, which are yearly collected at considerable expense by the Government. It has been suggested that tho yearly returns might easily be verified or otherwise by statements from the owners of threshing machines (which would, of course, have to be licensed), of acreage, of quantity, and of bushels threshed. Full returns would, of course, be late, but it would aid in forming a reliable opinion as to whether tho Government statistics are correct or not. The matter is worth the consideration of tho Government, whose interest it should be to place the most trustworthy information of all kinds before the colony. Mr. James Gammack was reelected chairman of the Corn Exchange.