change. Dr.
Magill was made Chief Grain Commissioner, for he had rendered excellent
services in the past and commanded the respect of the entire West.

The Board was not long in reaching the conclusion that if grain dealing
companies were to be eliminated from the business of owning and
operating terminal elevators, outright purchase and breaking of leases
would be necessary. The companies refused to lease to the Government
voluntarily on any terms which the Board could recommend. Some would
not lease on any terms whatever, claiming that to lease their terminals
would dislocate their whole system of interior elevators, involving a
loss of capital which had been invested legitimately. Apart from this,
the Board had its hands so full with other important things that
expropriation and all that it involved would claim their whole time and
energy to the neglect of other urgent matters.

Accordingly, the Grain Commissioners recommended that the Government
meet the immediate need of increased terminal facilities at the head of
the lakes by building a three-million-bushel elevator, thoroughly
equipped for storing, cleaning, drying and handling grain and with
provision for future extensions to a capacity of thirty million
bushels. They also approved of the Grain Growers' Grain Company
leasing one of the C. P. R. elevators. In this way both the Board and
the Grain Growers would gain first-hand knowledge of terminal elevator
conditions.

While formulating a policy for terminal elevators the Grain
Commissioners considered the need for terminal storage in the interior
as well as at the lakefront. The increase in the area of the grain
fields, particularly in Alberta, was straining the transportation
facilities to the limit and the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific
promised to open up still more acreage. Railway rolling stock, railway
yard accommodations at Winnipeg and Fort William and elevator storage
were not keeping pace with the annual volume of new grain. The
Government Inspection Department was up to its eyes in grain, working
night and day during the rush season, while lake and ocean tonnage
likewise were inadequate. Even the eleven million bushels of extra
storage capacity being built at the lake at the time the Board was
considering the situation would soon fill and overflow. Congestion at
eastern transfer houses or terminal points was threatening, water
freight rates were up and the export market disturb