DEAR ORANGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 102, 3 May 1939, Page 12

DEAR ORANGES.

FIRST ISLAND FRUIT. COMPLAINTS IN AUCKLAND. INCREASE ON LAST YEAR. Price* more than double those rulin? during la-t season were fixed for the ti itst shipment of Cook Inland oranges unloaded at Auckland from the Matllil to-day. Fruitereix strongly eriticised the Internal Marketing Depart in cut ."> action in setting a price level which would make it impossible for families villi low incomes to oKtain urinific*.

"The price* will cause "rent disappointment to trie large numbers of people who cannot afford to pay around :M each for orange*, and the burden on many families will be heavy," snid a lend in , .' retailer thw morning. '"It h eM>eiiliii! at tin- present time that children mid lliru-e who have suffered from seasonal ills should be iibli , to have plenty of orai: ■'.■*, hut the Department has h'xcd a plica which will make orange.* a luxury. , ' It was stated that the high price iiinnuneed by the Depart nu-nt had caused nurpri.se throughout th"' fruit trade as it was expected thai the liuure would be, considerably lower. Following the broadcast statement of the Minister of Marketing, the Hon. W. X.ish, last week that oranges and ban.iuas were cheaper in N'ew eZaland now than in lOrj.l. the deci-ion of the Department had disappointed many hopes. A comparison was nilule with the position last year when cases containing 120 oranges, estimated to show "20 per cent waste, were sold at 7/0. Today the same size cases, reported to contain ne.irly llM) per cent sound fruit. were costing 17/0. In consequence, oranges ■which were sold in fhe *hops at eight to twelve for a .-hilling la>t year, now had to be marked at five to eight for a shilling. "These prices are higher than in the days when the merchants were criticised for overcharging and the people were crying out for cheap oranges." said a. member of the wholesale '"fruit trade. He added that before control was introduced the usual price for Kiirotongan oranges of large size wa.B from 10/ to 12/ a case.