The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 1910. THE 200lb SACK.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14143, 1 March 1910, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 1910. THE 200lb SACK.

At the meeting of the South Canterbury Farmers' Union on Saturday it was said that the Minister of Railways does not understand the farmers' position in regard to the wheat-bag question. That is manifest enough, at all events up to the time ho arrived at Christchurch, where some glimmering of light seemed to have reached him. The farmers who were j>resent at the meeting also showed an incomplete grasp of the position, and so far they are in the same boat with the Minister. The resolution unanimously carried asked that the margin of 31bs r>er bag bs increased to olbs. This should meet the case of every farmer who weighs his grain carefully, with accurate appliances. It would have met the case of two out of three' of the Oamaru farmers who have incurred heavy penalties; but it would not have met the case of the man whose wheat was not weighed at all, and whose bags ran from 1381bs to 2221b5. The resolution should have demanded a new and fairer penalty, rather than an increase of the margin, though both are required. The farmer is very much at the mercy of the threshing-mill weighing machine, which may or may not be in good order. By the way, are these machines ever subjected to test and adjustment? With a good weighing machine, used with ordinary care, there should be no need for such a margin as 51bs on a bag of wheat. The need for it is due to machines imperfect from original defect, wear and tear, or bad setting-up, or to careless use; and when a need exists for a margin from any of these causes it is hard to say what it should be, to cover possible errors. The Hon. Mr Millar seems to think that the farmers are trying to cheat the Department by excess weights, which seems to indicate that he does not know that the grain trucks are weighed at central stations for the purpose of fixing the charges. And this is not too carefully done, for farmers and merchants complain of it, and the present Minister, following the practice of his predecessors, declines to guarantee the weights—for fear of law suits. The railways could very usefully assist one of the most important industries of the Dominion, by undertaking to weigh grain or any other produce carefully, and taring wooden trucks as soon as possible if changeable weather rendered that desirable in the interests of accuracy. vTe believe that the local officers and staffs everywhere are desirous of helping the farmers in every way open to them, and the refusal to weigh produce carefully in the interests of producers and merchants is merely a central decision. The only " guarantee " that need be asked for, is a guarantee that the weighing has been done with reasonable care for the purpose of ascertaining the exact weight, I and not merely a rough-and-ready process for fixing freight charges.