The Grain Despatch. —To all con nected with the Ashburton district, the getting away of the grain is a matter of importance, and every item that tends to 3ave time is worth noting. We were yes terday shown the system adopted by Mr. Pilkington, the Ashburton station master, of keeping a record of grain coming and going. Every lot is shown, with its number of bags, its marks or brands, and the storeman is enabled to despatch each in its order of arrival, thus dealing fairly by all parties. That

the work of the railway officials has been no sinecure this season in regard to grain the following figures will show, and those who know anything of shifting about sacks of grain will be able to understand that there was somebody not idle. From January 24th to March 31st there have been received at the railway station 28,871 sacks of wheat, 8,118 sacks of barley, and 0,411 sacks of oats. Of this number only 2,400 sacks remain in the shed, which is capable of holding 5,000. Only 500 sacks have been put outside this season, and these were soon got away, and without suf fering any damage. To carry away the quantity of grain despatched, 608 trucks were required—4Bß for wheat, 115 barley, and 13 for oats. The last item is very suggestive of how little demand there is for oats. The pressure has considerably slacked off dui’ing the last two days, the arrivals of grain teams being fewer, and consequently the quantity brought in has not been so great as it had been only a short time previously. A very large quantity of grain, however, from farms that used to load at Ashburton has this year gone down the Rakaia-Methven line to Rakaia, and has been despatched thence to port. The Mount Somers line may be expected to commence bringing down grain in a few days. At present a siding is being constructed at the termi nus, which is necessary before traffic can be begun generally, and all along the line there is grain now stacked and waiting for transit.
