500,000 CASES LESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 139, 15 June 1939, Page 27

500,000 CASES LESS.

DOMINION'S FRUIT EXPORT.

HEAVY HAWKK'S BAY DROP.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Canterbury and Otago were the only two provinces in Xew Zealand to export more pip fruits this year than in 11)38. Official figures released by the secretary of the Xew Zealand Fruit Export Control Board reveal a decline of more than half a million cases of fruit exported this reason.

Nelson, the chief fruit-producing area in New Zealand, has dropped more than a third on last year's total, while there was a remarkable decline in the Hawke s Bay total which wrts only one-fifth of the 1038 total, which was a record. Four times as much fruit fo." the overseas market was produced by Otago. Canterbury showed an increase of about 20 per cent. 1 ' One of the main reasons for the big drop is attributed to the uniformity of dry seasons. In the Nelson district dry weather prevented the fruit from iilling out as usual, while mouldy core disease in the Delicious variety seriously affected Auckland exports,» In Otago a bumper crop followed an' extremely poor one last season. The following table shows the total number of cases of apples and pears exported from each district compared with the figures for laet year:— Cases. District. 1038. 1039. Dec. Auckland . . *>8,882 52,617 16,26;> l'overtv Bay 11.221 4,518 8,703 Hawke'* Bay 348,213 «8,787 270,426 Walrarapa . 17,037 14,46» 2.568 Marlborough. 63.054 53,861 10,003 Port Nelson. 270,232 100,859 70,373 Mapua 373,274 246,528 126,746 Motneka .. . 334,000 254.001 80.800 Canterbury . 35.481 43.181 *7.700 Otago 30,478 122,231 *82,753 Totals ... 1,502.672 1,051,142 511,530 •Increase.