LOST WHEAT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15862, 5 July 1919, Page 2

LOST WHEAT.

HUNDRED THOUSAND BAGS, STAGGERING ■ DAMAGE IN TRANSPORT, * (Sydney Sun.) Over 100,000 bags of wheat supposed to have been in the stacks at Enfield V have vanished. Enormous damage has been caused by wheat in transport being uncovered by tarpaulins, and becoming wet. The State Wheat Office lias made a claim, upon the Railway Commissioners for tens of thousands of pounds to c6ver specific losses in this direction. A staggeflng state of affairs is revealing itself in connection with the handling and stacking of wheat. Such facts as have come to light revive some rumours current for months, and make the statement that a whole shipload of wheat recently vanished not so incredible as at first seemed. UNSOLVED MYSTERY, Apparently the united energies of the State Wheat Office and the. Railway Department have failed to trace the disappearance of over 100,0,0 D bags which, it was believed, were sent to Enfield. It is a fact that thousands more bags cannot be traced; but how many thousands it is impossible to say. Probably the Wheat Board itself does not know how many. . The utmost confusion, it is said, surrounds the whole matter. The Wheat Administration may or may not be at fault. It may be the victim of the faults of others, of faulty machinery upon which it had to work. But whoever’s the fault, the burden lies upon the farmers, who are faced with a tremendous loss. EXTENSIVE DAMAGE. Not only lias an enormous quantity of wheat disappeared, but' also thou-, sands of bags have been damaged by becoming wet while in railway trucks, and will have to be reconditioned at considerable expense. In this connection the Wheat Office has made a claim upon the Railway Department in connection with specific consignments for an amount running into tens of thousands of pounds. At present the claim is being made only in inter-departmental correspondence. . Railway officials state that there is little likelihood of the claim being successful. It is said that Wheat Office men themselves load the railway trucks, and see to the coverings. Further, there are two freight rates for wheat, one at which the wheat is carried at owner’s risk, and a higher one which include,? insurance by the Railway Commissioners. The lower rate is ” paid by Hie Wheat Office, even during the period in which there was an acute shortage of tarpaulins, due to the destruction by fire of the railway tarpaulin factory.

MATTER OP INSURANCE. : It is held that if the Wheat Office was not prepared to insure wheat which its own men were loading, and for which there were no tarpaulins, it is in the position of any ~person who neglects to insure. It is also said that the wheat is left lying in the trucks for many days. The Government is seriously disturbed over the whole matter, and Mr James, Minister for Education, who is also a barrister, has been deputed to inquire into the facts, and make a special report to Cabinet.

Upon that report wRI depend whether a more extensive inquiry ig ordered. MR FRASER SILENT. The Chief Railway Commissioner, Mr Fraser, was asked if he would make any statement in connection with teh Wheat Office claim. Mr Fraser said he was not prepared to say anything at all.