B. W. MCVILLY.J

13

D.—4,

28. Do you have Government goods landed at the wharf'/—(Joal. 29. No other goods? —1 think not. 30. What coal would you land in a year?—l could not say straight off. We very often arrange shipments, and sometimes we have to divert them to Wanganui. 31. What would be a fair estimate?-—I will get the exact figures in connection with it. 32. L suppose there is a considerable tonnage?—No, 1 do not think so. 33. What do you charge other people per ton for wharfage?—lt depends on the class of goods. 34. 1 mean for coal?—ls. per ton. •■if). Mr. Williams.] You might at this stage give us the ordinary wharfage on other goods? — Other goods : merchandise, 2s. per ton, weight or measurement; flax and tow, per bale, 3d. ; wool, -'id.; manures, Id. per ton; grain and Hour, Is. (kl. ; timber other than white-pine, 2d. per 100 ft.; white-pine, Id. .'iC. The (Jhainnau .j Now, are those goods that you charge those rates on carried by the railway?— Yes; 1 think you can say 95 per cent, of the goods arc carried by railway to Palmerston and other places. There is a good deal carried to Himatangi and Sanson. 37. Is there any terminal charge made by the railway?— There is a terminal charge included in all our rates. 38. What is the value of the goods carried from the wharf by the railway? —I could not tell you. 39. Qould you tell (he rates earned-—you have a return of the tonnage of goods carried? — Yes, 1 have the total revenue carried to and from Foxton. Of OQ.UX'ge, the whole of that is not credited to the Foxton Branch or the Foxton Station. 4-0. The wharfage rate will show. You could tell us how much comes from incoming goods and how much from outgoing goods? -Yes, 1 dare say I could give that. 41. Are (lie outgoing goods mainly carried by railway? —There is a large amount of exported goods carted into Foxton, and a considerable quantity comes down the river—tow and llax. 42. Do you charge anything for export stuff? —Wharfage. There i.s a wharfage rate on anything put on board ship. 43. You charge a wharfage rate even if it does not touch the wharf? —Yes; if the goods are put-on board a ship lying alongside the wharf, then the rate is charged. It is the general practice. Everything pays. We get wharfage from Levin and Co. in accordance with the usual practice and by agreement. 44. JL)o you have expenditure on the wharf proper?— Yes, undoubtedly—upkeep and labour on the wharves. We do everything. 45. What do you charge for that—have you made it up?— Yes. Our expenditure in working the wharf was as' follows : 1908, £897; 1909, £1,119; 1910, .£1,404; 1911, £1,4(5,5.; 1912, .£1,531; 19;13, £1,81)5; 1911; .£1,897; 1915, £3,271; 1916, £1,989. 4(5. What is included in those charges—what do you do for it/.' -- -We handle all the goods; we do the sorting, shunting, and repairs. 47. Supposing you bring a cargo of any goods to Foxton and they take delivery from you at the trucks by carts, thai is all included in the terminal charge?— That is in the terminal charge; there is nothing in the wharfage for that. 48. Do you mean that the men who look after the discharge of the goods from your trucks are the same men who look after the same goods beiug charged at the wharf?— Pail, of the time. '■Wilt there is sometimes extra labour engaged for the wharf and goods-shed. 49. How do you separate that?—We take the time of the men engaged oil the wharf and the men engaged in the goods-sheds. 50. 1 thought your terminal charge included the cost of discharging?— Yes. 51. If the terminal cost includes that, what is this extra charge for? You do not hoist it on board the ship, do you?—We put men in the trucks to take delivery from ships' slings, and shunt the goods into the shed, unload, sort, and tally the goods. 52. But if you put the goods into the slings, supposing a carter came alongside the truck, do you have any man helping the carter to take the goods out of the truck ?—As a rule. If the goods are what wo call "outside goods"—that is, coal, timber, and that kind of thing—we do not handle unless the consignee is prepared to pay. If he is prepared to pay, the charge he has to pay is Is. per ton for the coal if he wants assistance, and 4d. per 100 ft. for timber. 53. Supposing it is ordinary goods?—lf merchandise, then yve do not, make a charge for it unless special services are performed, because theoretically that is supposed to go through the goods-sheds, and as a rule it does. 54. Supposing 1 was living in Foxtou and, as a storekeeper, 1 asked you to take a truck of goods from Wellington to Foxton, you would deliver it to me on the terminal charge without any through charge—is that not so? —If you were a storekeeper, yes, that is so —a certain class of goods. 55. Say, timber and coal?— Timber, coal, flax, and wool we call " outside goods," and charge extra for at tariff rates. SG. Supposing goods came by train to be put on board ship —not coal, timber, or flax, but ordinary merchandise—would you charge the ordinary wharfage rate?—We charge the ordinary wharfage rate, but not labour. The special labour you have to engage for taking goods from the boat, taking it into the goods-shed, reloading, handling, and sorting out, is extra. Say a ship conies here and dumps 250 or 300 tons of goods, theoretically you are only supposed to handle that once, but practically you handle it twice and sometimes three times. 57. And if the consignees will not do that you have to do it for them?—We have to do it in every case.