generally done for 24 cents per ton per mile. About
12-1/2 bags of wheat go to the ton.

[Illustration: AUSTRALIAN WHEAT FOR EXPORT FROM FARM TO WHARF.]

At present in Australia wheat is all handled in bags which contain about
3 bushels of grain. The price of empty bags varies from $1.50 to $2.00
per doz. Very few second-hand bags are used. The different State
Governments in Australia are now considering the wisdom of introducing
the American system of handling wheat in bulk. The Governments of New
South Wales and of Western Australia have definitely announced their
intention of establishing that system, while it is being favourably
considered in Victoria. Once the system was introduced in any of the
States it would probably be only a short time before it was adopted
throughout the Commonwealth. At present, however, bags are in
universal use, the grain being thus carried both for local and export
trade.

The settler finds no difficulty in selling his wheat, as grain merchants
and millers compete for it. Often sales are made before the crop is
ripe. The large wheat merchants and shippers have their agents in every
town, and these men visit the farms, inspect the grain, and make an
offer according to the ruling market price. The local millers are also
competing for what grain they want for local consumption. The grower is
paid on delivery at the mill or the nearest railway station. If he
prefers to do so he can store it with the buying firms, giving them the
right to purchase when he is prepared to sell, or he can store on the
farm. The export values of wheat per bushel for the last six years, have
been:--

1909 $1.00
1910 1.00
1911 0.84
1912 0.95
1913 0.84
1914 0.82

Wheat is bought and sold on what is known as the f.a.q. (fair average
quality) system. Samples of wheat are taken from the various districts
by the different Chambers of Commerce, and each State fixes its own
f.a.q. standard. These samples are mixed together, and by careful
testing on a patent scale it is ascertained what an Imperial bushel of
weight actually weighs. The idea is to ascertain as equitably as
possible what a fair average sample of the season's wheat should weigh.
The standard varies a little in different years; it may be 61, 62, 64,
or as low as 58 lbs. to the bushel. Whatever it is fixed at for the
season that is the basis upon which all sales are made. If the market
pri