MARKETING APPLES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 11, 13 January 1940, Page 4

MARKETING APPLES.

SCHEME FOR DOMINION. STIMULATE CONSUMPTION. A scheme to help fruit growers and to try to make New Zealanders eat two apples a day instead of one is being prepared under the supervision of the Hon. D. Wilson, M.L.C., Minister without portfolio, who -has just finished a tour of the fruit-growing districts of the South Island With him -went representatives of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Internal Marketing. Mr. Wilson told a reporter of a scheme with which it is hoped to make up for the inability of the British Government to guarantee shipping space for the export of apples and pears. While half the entire crop was formerly exported, it was • now; ■possible that there would be no exports at j all, and the problem was to sell the whole j crop on the local market. Growers had/ approached the Government in the first place, Mr. Wilson said, and it had been decided to buy the whole crop at average prices of 4/10 a case for local consumption and 5/2 for export—if any. _ He himself was to supervise the forming of the scheme and had already attended meetings of men in the industry in a number of South Island centres. Regulations to Suit Majority. Regulations would be drafted to conform as far as possible with the wishes of the majority of men in the industry, Mr. Wilson said. Distribution agencies are being investigated. Mr. Wilson said that arrangements were being made for station-masters to be agents for case lots and halt-case lots, and dairy factories might also be used for distribution. Retailers would be employed on a commission basis. The aim was to encourage direct sales to consumers, and £10,000 had been set aside for an advertising campaign. Uses of pip fruits in by-products, such as bottled apple-juice, cider and dried fruit, were, also being investigated. [ A better price next year*was probable, according to Mr. Wilson. A loss at the end of this year was likely, but the Government wished to save growers from hardship. After touring the North Island, Mr. Wilson and his assistants will draft the regulations in time -for the scheme to 'be in operation when the fruit begins to come on the market.