Rice pours into mill at Echuca
At least 200 tons of rice have been delivered to Echuca's new rice mill this week, although rain held up deliveries for two days.
The storage shed is not yet completed, but delivery began this week to minimise losses to farmers, who have 20,000 bags lying in their paddocks.
Echuca railwaymen deny that a shortage of rail trucks was responsible for an accumulation of 4,000 tons of rice at Tullakool fields.
Sidings between Echuca and Burraboi and Wakool fields, they said, were full of trucks, which could not be loaded because of the wet weather.
EARLY START EXPECTED AT RICE MILL
The installation of machinery in the Echuca Rice Mill is now almost complete, and expectations are that processing of rice at the mill will start within a month.
Only about twenty per cent, of the machinery necessary to commence milling remains to be installed at the factory, and when this is done the final link-up in the electric system will be made and the factory will then be ready to swing into production.
The storage shed at the mill site is now complete but for the erection of some of the sliding doors.
Preparations are being made at the mill for the intake of this season's rice from the Wakool area. The first loads from this year's harvest are expected at the factory in a fortnight.
The whole of the season's crop from the Wakool area will be stored, in the company's shed at Echuca, and in one approximately the same size at Burraboi.
The Burraboi storage shed is to be used as holding space while the rice from the Echuca shed is processed at the mill. The grain from Burraboi will then be transported to Echuca and also processed at the mill.
In this fashion the entire rice crop from the Wakool district will be processed at Echuca.
RICE HARVEST SOON IN NORTHERN FIELDS
The rice harvesting season will commence very soon in the Wakool, Tullakool and Burraboi districts and its advent will almost coincide with the completion of the new rice mill in Annesley Street, Echuca.
For the next month or so Burraboi, Wakool and Tullakool areas will be busy, as the settlers commence to harvest a big crop.
A new rice store at Burraboi siding will cost in the vicinity of £30,000. Reports indicate that crops on the whole area are good, and the yields on several excellent crops will be very high.
At Burraboi the huge storage shed to house the crop while awaiting transfer to the Echuca rice mill, is nearly completed. The shed measures 200 feet toy 100 feet, and is being built by the Rice Equalisation Board. It will store 6500 tons of rice at full capacity.
Owing to the shortage of cement - 150 tons would be needed to concrete the floor of the building - it was found impossible to put the floor in for this season's harvest. The rice will be stacked on a temporary staging.
Three new power elevators to stack the rice are also at Burra boi siding. These cost approximately £300 each. It is expected that 14,000 tons of rice will go through the Burraboi siding this season. The entire rice crop from the Wakool district will be processed at Echuca.
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