The House of Representatives appointed a Select Committee on Powellised Timber (CA 2219) on 30 October 1913. Hon F Bamford was a member but resigned his position because of his commitment on the Pearling Commission and Mr R J Burchell was appointed in his place. The Select Committee had five sittings and examined 2 witnesses before the Commonwealth Parliament was prorogued on 19 December 1913.
 
The investigation being incomplete, Letters Patent were issued dated 19 December 1913 and a Royal Commission on Powellised Timber was established. Hon Henry Gregory MP was appointed Chairman and the Commissioners were James Bennett MP, Reginald John Burchell MP, William James McWilliams MP, Hon King O'Malley MP, Hon Alexander Poynton MP, Hugh Sinclair MP, with J Ulmer as Secretary.
 
The Commission was to inquire into and report upon:
 
"all matters pertaining to any contracts and agreements proposed or entered into for the use of powellised and other timbers with power to inquire and report as to the merits of powellising, and all matters incidental to the proposed use of powellised sleepers and other timber in connection with the construction of the railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie".
 
In an Interim Report presented on 3 February 1914 it was recommended that an 8 feet x 10 inches x 5 inches sleeper be used, this length giving a good road and effecting enormous savings. King O'Malley was of the opinion the length should be as, on the Pennsylvania Railway, 8' 6".  

The capital cities of New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania were visited by the Commission and 89 witnesses examined.  

The Report criticised business methods of the Home Affairs Department. The Western Australian tender to supply 1,400,000 powellised karri sleepers was accepted on 6 August 1912, while 175,000 untreated jarrah sleepers to be supplied by Lewis and Reid and 1,000,000 untreated Tasmanian sleepers offered by the Huon Co, which it was feared might be of inferior timber, both tenders being lower than that of Western Australia, were rejected. However timber of inferior quality - 100,000 mountain ash and messmate sleepers were contracted subsequently from the Victorian Powell Wood Process Co without tender being called, deposit made or the contractor having to sign specifications. This contract was annulled by the Acting Minister for Home Affairs on 12 August 1913 after 6,000 sleepers were delivered.
 
After an unwarranted delay the agreement between the Governments of the Commonwealth and the Western Australian Government was eventually completed on 13 October 1913. To implement the contract 17 miles of track were required and timber mills cutting 60,000 sleepers a month. Construction was started on this in January 1913 and 17 miles of track were completed by January 1914, one mill completed and several others nearing completion by February 1914.
 
On visiting the mills the Commissioners were convinced that their capacity was greatly overrated, the Western Australian Government had displayed no anxiety in fulfilling the contract and that this would mean a serious delay in the progress of the Transcontinental Railway. The terms of the contract not having been fulfilled the Commission recommended that in view of the large expenditure undertaken by the Western Australian Government in mills, railways and plant the Commonwealth Government would be obliged to deal with the contract in a spirit of compromise and not upon its strict legal interpretation.  
Evidence was taken on various methods of preserving timber and the relative advantages of powellising timber, experiments using powellised timber in New South Wales and Victoria failed. The argument in favour of using powellised karri sleepers, it appeared, was based on the success of the East Perth sleepers, however no records were kept of this experiment. The Commissioners stated "it seems abolutely impossible to determine on the facts and judge the efficiency of a new process without an honest and accurate inspection of the class of timber adopted for treatment, method of treatment so as to ensure that it may be adopted on a commercial scale, and careful periodic inspection when in use, covering many years beyond the life of the untreated sleeper."
 
The recommendations of the Commission were:
 
(a) the establishment of a Tender Board; that "in all contracts let
    by the Government for the supply of goods or construction of
    works, public tenders should be invited, and a reasonable deposit
    insisted upon as a guarantee of good faith that goods shall be
    supplied or work constructed promptly and in accordance with the
    terms of the contract"; that in conjunction with the proposed    
    Agricultural Bureau there should be Forestry Department advice to
    the States on all matters pertaining to the afforestation,
    conservation and preservation of timbers;
(b) that with artificially treated timbers care should be taken that
    impregnation be "thorough and in accordance with the approved    
    formula"; and
(c) that prompt and careful tests should be made to determine the    
    most appropriate sleepers for the severe conditions of the
    Northern Territory, ie sleepers of steel, re-inforced concrete or
    treated timber.
 
Engineers did not recommend the use of powellisation on such a vast scale as the contracts entered into by the Commonwealth Government, allowing however "the benefit which would accrue to Australia if some method could be proved an effective preventative against dry rot and thus add to the life of our inferior hardwoods".
 
The Commissioners summed up by not wholly condemning the process of powellisation but finding no excuse for a decision which involved the Commonwealth Government in large capital expenditure to which the enormous loss of expenditure on maintenance might be added should their experience prove similar to Victoria and New South Wales already cited.  

A Minority Report was submitted by Reginald J Burchell and King O'Malley in which they disagreed that the evidence submitted on the failure of powellised sleepers was conclusive and they believed powellisation would supply the necessary methods of treatment required. They did not believe there was any danger financial or otherwise in utilizing large quantities of karri sleepers, where the efficiency of the method was in doubt it could always be traced to inexperienced and inefficient treatment of the timber.
 
The Final Report was dated Melbourne, 30 July 1914.
 

Sources
  
Parliamentary Papers II Session 1914, pp 654-655
Parliamentary Papers V Session 1914/17, pp 845-890
Register of Patents 19 December 1913 No 6, p 13
Report on the Business Management of the Department of Home Affairs,
 27 October 1915
Borchardt, Checklist of Royal Commissions, pp 22-23
 

Historical agency address
Melbourne
Legislation administered
Register of Patents 7 January 1914 No. 6 page 13
Royal Commissions Act 1902