NEW ZEALAND FRUIT BOARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 201, 26 August 1930, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND FRUIT BOARD.

BROWN HEART RUINS A CARGO. (From Our Own Correspondent.) v LONDON, July 17: The chief topic, among fruit growers at the moment is the disaster which has overtaken the cargo of the Tasmania. She canie into Manchester from Nelson and Wellington with a cargo of 43,000 cases of apples, which had every appearance of t>em£ in 'excellent condition. Suspicions were, however, aroused by the presence of gases in the hold, and investigation revealed that at least 80 per cent of the apples were unsaleable owing to brown heart.

An interesting situation now arises which may lead to a reversal of the verdict given against Australian fruit growers in the Northumberland case in 1923, when, after the case 'had been carried to the House of Lords, the verdict was that the losses on a cargo of brown heart were due to "inherent vice in the apples." In 1923 scientific research with regard to brown, heart had not been carried very far, whereas at the present time, owing to researches by Drs. Kidd, West, Smith, Barker, and the Cambridge Low Temperature Research Station, the growers are in a much more impregnable position, especially, as the Tasmania's cargo is entirely ftge from other defects. This should prove excellent as a test case if the matter is brought into the courts, as seems probable. The growers contend that the cargo was shipped in perfect and that the cause of rtihe devastation was purely owing to suffocation due to lack, of roroper ventiHation in an old boat which'is not provided with an adequate ventilation system | f °The 'and Port Hardy called at" Avonmouth and Glasgow last week and the Port Hardy also called at Liverpool. As ;the market is, very • low generally . owing , to large quailtities of Australian . and goft, fruits, the. cargoes. which have arrived lately at' Southampton, Avonmouth, "and Glasgow have been put into cold storage. It is hoped that the recent British embargo on American- low grade apples, which holds good for three months, will ihelp -in holding the cold stored fniit,