TOMATO GROWERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 271, 14 November 1936, Page 10

TOMATO GROWERS.

LETTER TO THE MINISTER.

APPEAL FOR PROTECTION.

. -Recent-happenings - have;, put. tomato.. . growers round Auckland in a very difficult position, states a letter sent by the secretary of : the local Commercial Gardeners' Society; Mr. C. R. Reader, to the Hon. W. Lee' Martin, Minister Of Agri-j . culture. ti

Captain A. A. Currey, vice-president of tlie society, stated this morning that a meeting had been held earlier in the week to discuss the situation, and later delegates had gone to Pukekohe to confer with the growers of that district. The letter was the outcome of these conferences.

It is feared by the growers that the restoration of the wages of their labourers to tlie 1931 level will take what little profit they may make out of this year's crop. In 1931 they were paid £10 a ton by the same factories for for their tomatoes, whereas the present price is £5 10/ a ton. The abolition of the rebate of 12J per cent on rates has made the position worse, and at tlie same time auctioneers' commission has gone up to 33 1-3 per cent.

Above all, the price of tomatoes on the city market is now lower than it has been at this time for years, owing to heavy arrivals of Cook Islands fruit— G2QO cases by the Hauraki, and 10,000 which arrived in Wellington on Monday. The growers' protest strongly against this "dumping," and suggest that these imports should be regulated, shipments being excluded during the flush of tlie local season.

A case is put forward for a guaranteed price for tlie tomato grower. "The dairy farmers have a guaranteed price for tlieir produce, and we, as agriculturists, are just as important to the public in the matter of health food supplies." Immediate action should be taken, it is added, to remedy the situation for the flush of the presenit season.