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one also which is an absolutely fatal disease. Our association is of opinion that 240 lb. is too great a weight for men to handle for any length of time with impunity. We hope you will see your way to associate with us in an effort to obtain a reduction in the weight of sacks. We would suggest 200 lb. as the maximum weight which could be safely handled by the men. Yours, &0., R. 11. Anderson, President. Edward Gane, Secretary.

EXHIBIT B. The Chamber of Commerce took the matter up, and forwarded the following letter, which appeared in the same-dated Lyttelton Times: — Sir,— I have the honour, by direction of the committee of this Chamber, to forward you a copy of letter received from the Canterbury Branch of the British Medical Association on the subject of excessive weight of sacks of wheat, and also the following resolution, passed by the committee, which we trust will receive your kindly consideration: — "That the attention of the Government be requested to the copy of the letter enclosed from the Canterbury Section of the British Medical Association, directing attention to the injury caused to workmen by the excessive weight of sacks of wheat, in order to facilitate the use of small sacks. The Government be asked to make provision accordingly in the railway tariff." Yours, &c, The Right Hon. the Premier. • H. Antill Adley.

EXHIBIT C. The Lyttelton Times published a leading article on the subject of the letters, of which the following is a copy: — The letter which the local branch of the Medical Association has addressed to the Chamber of Commerce, and which the latter body has forwarded to the Premier, deserves the careful consideration of the Government. If a 200 lb. sack of wheat is the maximum weight that a lumper can handle with safety to himself, the Railway Department should certainly not encourage the farmers to put their grain into heavier sacks. At present ten sacks of wheat, each weighing 240 lb., are taken on the railways as 1 ton, so that the farmer gets 2,400 lb. carried at the same price as he would pay for 2,000 lb. if he used the smaller sacks. So long as the present tariff is maintained there will be no change made, for, however much the farmer may wish to consider the men .who have to move and store his grain, he cannot afford to pay 20 per cent, extra in the way of railway carriage to save them from the evils depicted by the Medical Association. There can be no doubt that the excessive weight of the sacks now in use is responsible for a great deal of inconvenience and a considerable amount of actual suffering. It scarcely required two men suffering from aortic aneurism in the ranks of the deputation that waited upon the association the other day to satisfy the public that the lumpers at Lyttelton are constantly exposed to a variety of ailments that arise from prolonged muscular exertion. Any one who has seen these men at work in the height of the grain season must have realised that handling a 240 lb. sack of wheat imposes a strain upon the human frame which cannot be borne for many hours with impunity. In the United States the cental bag of 1001b. has been in use for many years; but a proposal to introduce it into Australia has been strenuously resisted by the merchants and shippers in Sydney and Melbourne. They contend that the bags are not strong enough to stand the repeated handling that is required in the colonies; that they cannot be removed weight for weight so rapidly as the larger sacks; and that in the long-run they cost the farmer more. They do not seem to have considered the point raised by the Medical Association here, but the local Chamber of Commerce has taken a far more humane view of the matter, and has requested the Government to make such amendments in the railway tariff as may be necessary to facilitate the use of the smaller sacks. We trust that the request will receive the favourable consideration of the Minister of Railways, and that he will see his way to give effect to the suggestion of the Chamber.

EXHIBIT D. J. Wallbh, aneurism of heart, dead; T. Buckley, badly strained, and dead; T. Pritchard, badly strained, and dead; J. Hock, badly strained and dead; J. Brown, badly strained, and dead; J. Longman, badly strained, and dead; E. Keye, badly strained and dead; J. Ellis, badly strained, and dead; T. Harkiss, strained leg; W. Taylor, bowels strained; D. Appleby, heart strained'; H. Wilson, heart strained; J. Serrat, varicose veins; J. Clark, varicose veins; G. Davis, varicose veins; J. Taurish, varicose veins; F. Lurch, varicose veins

EXHIBIT E. Dbae Sir, Ashburton, 24th August, 1907. Herewith statement of account showing £270 17s. Id. in your favour. This amount has been placed to your credit with Union Bank, Ashburton. Size of corn-sacks: We have neither had a man disabled by lifting the 4-bushel sacks of wheat or in any way injured during the'thirty-odd years the writer has been in business. As you