ORANGE SUPPLIES

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 292, 9 December 1936, Page 3

ORANGE SUPPLIES

CHRISTMAS TRADE. VALENCIAS FROM AUSTRALIA. GOVERNMENT TO FIX PRICE. A supply of oranges for Christmas throughout Xew Zealand is assured. Thousands of cases will arrive from Australia within the next week under special arrangements made by the Xew Zealand Government. On his return from Wellington this morning by the Limited express, Mr. Harvey Turner,- managing director of Turners and Growers, Ltd., who has been conferring with the Government, said that 4000 cases of Valencia oranges were due to arrive at Auckland by the Awatea next Tuesday. The oranges were grown in the district of Xew South Wales, a dry area free from fruit fly. "Both wholesale and retail prices will lie fixed by the Government before the shipment' arrives," said Mr. Turner. "The prices will be fixed .throughout Xew Zealand, and it will be necessary /to have an equalisation fund to cover variations in the cost of landing the goods at the various centres. Until all the landed costs are known, this cannot be completed." Special Southern Supply.

Simultaneously with the arrival of the Awatea's shipment at Auckland, said Mr. Turner, a further 4000 cases would arrive at Wellington, and about the same time 4000 cases from Victoria would arrive in the South Island. Arrangements were being made so that part of the supply would be held for Christmas week to make certain that plentiful supplies would be available to meet the Christmas demand. The supply for Auckland was being indented in one lot, continued Mr. Turner. They would be distributed to_the wholesale firms, who in turn would arrange to distribute them to the retailers. When inquiries were made in Australia for a supply for New Zealand, it had been found that there was not such a big supply as was believed. The extraordinary shortage in New Zealand had been caused by; the American coastal shipping strike. Australian Crop Reduced. "The strike has also affected the supply in Australia," Mr. Turner explained, "and there is not such a big supply of exportable lines free from fly. Continued dry weather in Australia has reduced the crop of oranges, and an unusually heavy demand has set in from the East —another effect of the Pacific Coast strike.

"The strike has been responsible for the acute shortage here, and has caused tiic price to go tip in Australia. Supplies of cheaper oranges could have been obtained, but they were not suitable for export, and the New Zealand Government would not allow them to be imported."