FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 226, 23 September 1932, Page 3

FRUIT INDUSTRY.

TARIFF OBTAINED AT OTTAWA •aPDKESS BY MR. COATES. ' (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) .",:■• '■ .WELLINGTON, Thursday. -The-benefit-of the change of fruit tariff from ad valorem to specific was referred to by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates %; addressing the Fruitgrowers' Federation conference. He said that New Zeaand had obtained at Ottawa a tariff of i/e* civt, guaranteed for five years, in .ilace'Of the 10 per cent preference, due o expire in November. The change vould mean that the duty would fall .•specially heavy on cheap, low-grade irtiit, and would have the effect of guarding against cheap, dumped apples. ? He also referred to the case for eea(o'nal'jnarketing, and said he thought it rasa sound proposition. He thought he 'buld advise the people that there was a utufe for New Zealand's fruit industry, je advised those connected with it to iiaintain quality. Jin'Robertson, chairman of the Fruit ioard, also addressed the conference. He tafd that from time to time it was itated, that the board was opposed to ■ : orkard selling, but this was not borne Hit by the facts. For several years past, ■Keiboard sold.considerable quantities on •Jw .forward eystem. The board had, icnveyer,. refrained from selling on a forVard basis to the United Kingdom, jiainly because of the uncertainty how Hibh •forward sales would react on fruit lent-pn consignment. Great Britain was -.he' Dominion's main market, absorbing 'spej*cent of the crop, and it was essential that- nothing should be done to iterfere with the profitable selling of 'die crop. 'The eystem of forward sales adopted with shipments to Canada,, and had been used extensively jn Europe, and would be adopted in Great Britain when the board was tssured that such action was in the best interests of the growers. A proposal was earned that a. trial jliipment of export fruit be made from Xelson in unwired cases, with a view to doing'away with wiring.