FRUIT EXPORT.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18635, 9 March 1926, Page 10

FRUIT EXPORT.

DIRECT SHIPMENT FROM LYTTELTON. v, OVER 600 CASES. ; The first instalment of this season's Canterbury fruit for export was shipped at Lyttelton on the efceamer Tainui yesterday, and consisted of 668 cases of apples——6o2 cases of Cox s Orange and 16 cases of Jonathans. All 1 the fruit was'of fancy grade, and as : it left the stores of the Papanui Fruit j and Cool Storage Company yesterday , uiorning it was in very good .condition. . The occasion was noteworthy from the fact that this is the first shipment ' of Canterbury fruit for the English i market that has been loaded at Lyt- : tetlon. A statement which appeared , in Friday's issue of "The press" that ' only 100 cases were to be sent, that a ( quantity intended for export was not • ripe enough for shipment, was incorrect. The original estimate of the number of cases to be shipped by the 1 Tainui was 800, but owing to hail'marks' and damage caused by hail, and < to the fact that the date of the de- \ parture of the steamer was altered, so • that it gave less time for the collec- I lion, grading, and packing of the fruit, it was found impossible to get < more than 668 cases ready, in time. < It is possible that the Tairoa will 1 take on board at Lyttelton, about the I • 20tlf of this month, a further consign- ] went of Canterbury fruit for England. < Approximately, 500 cases will be ship- j * ped. There will be more Canterbury ] fruit for shipment later, but after the i Tairoa shipment, it is possible that ' the remaining shipments will be tran- | shipped to Wellington. i Mr D. J. Hogg, Orchard Instructor, , who supervised yesterday's shipment j on behalf of the Department of Aeri- > culture, told a. representative of "The ( ' Press" that the export'of fruit from i Canterbury this season will be considcrably in excess of the quantity export'ed in any previous year. Last year Canterbury's export was between 400 and 600 cases. This year's total should. be, roughly, 1800 cases of apples. WHEAT. i I / ~~~~ i Fowl wheat, which is duty free, was j quoted in Auckland at the week-end ( at 8s» 6d, ex store. With duty, the price would be 9s 9d. Millers in 1 Canterbury say. they cannot afford to j : pav more than 6s 8d or .so, f.0.b., for j milling wheat. . , i .AN EMBARGO, ] CANADIAN CATTLE. ! j .' - I (TBOK OUB OWN COBEBSPOMDBNT.y . VANCOUVER, February 2. 1 Few matters of discussion which from time > , - to time have arisen between Canada and th& : Mother Country have been conduoive of so much friction, and annoyance, as the question of the embargo on the entry of Canadian ' store'cattle into Britain. It is , admitted now that the embargo was first placed on J . . Dominion' cattle & result of a mistaken , . diagnosis, and it is not in dispute that for / twenty-nine years, until the ban was removed, Canadian'cattle enjoyed/ a clean bill of health,''not a single case of the highly t-.v:■}■; infections- and much dreaded foot-and-mouth - , disease' occurring during that long period, although outbreaks were frequent in the ' Motherland. - -. ' ,« Year" after year efforts^were made to get tb« embargo removed,-but the opposition ot the Irish cattlemen and'the dealers of other countries was sufficient to keejJ the ban on . ' the entry of'all Canadian cattle save those t , for immediate slaughter at.the doclcs. Then during the World War a round-table conferi <-nce was held in Downing street, at which the case for the. raising of the embargo was ■ .7 \strongly put forward by Sir Rohert Borden, , '/ i supported by< Hon. Robert Bogers. At that I y siss.on Lord. Ernie (then Mr Prothero), who was at that time British. Minister for Agri- 1 ' '". culture, gave a specifio that so far as his Department .was concealed they , < were in favour of removal' of the embargo. , <> "We do not that there is now or ■> ' / has-been for many years past the slightest l , ground to exolude' Canadian cattle <on the 1 score of disease," he said. . ' ' „A resolution was. passed ?t this oonfer'ence which was held early in the war, recommending the immediate lifting of the 'embargo, but. for. five years nothing «ras <;vdpue andC&nada remained etill under the i ( pngma* that her cattle were diseased. The ~ ■. strongest influences werp brought to bear to t perpetuate the'ban in'order to favour Che dealers of rival countries. The injustice of .' . ine diliitoriflMU of the British Government was widely folV Eestrlctlva Segnlationa. -The time-arrived finally when the British u:,'i v■: Government could .not in decency delay ful* ■*„ " ,'illmg ,ita pledge any longer. Another meeting was arranged, at which Mr Yielding, ■. ■' Mr Lapointc, and Uae High Commissioner for Canada in London canyassed the situation once moid with the British Minister . for Agriculture and his experts. There were no reservations made in .the promises which , . the" British Government had given so frequently in the days of the war, yet when 1 ttsa time iqi action cameit was discovered that restrictive regulations would be inserted and it' 1 -was felt that the- same in- < / Alienees were at work which had been instrumental in retaining the embargo in t the past. The Canadian delegates, to the oonference | that eventually got action were tKerefore 1 . : confronted with the propect of etill further I r delays unless they agreed to certain re-j serrations. This inoluded the prohibition v Against, shipping in breeding cattle or fat: cattle, stackers only being permitted, that, is to say animals to be fattened. The consequence of these regulations was that no could be brought in and when a / ehiji, of Canadian cattle reaches a British . port an inspector goes aboard and arbitrarily rejects about one-third, of the 'cattle on the ground that they are fat and must W slaughtered. . This Involves au extra expense on the shipper, sines tho fat cattle are not allowed to land at the same dock as', the others, and the has to-be ■ moved to another wharf, entailing a coni eiderable expense, which adds to'the oost j of transporting the animals. Cattle also are held tip for a period of three clear days. a l . before shipment, which means an additional expense. . • I All the foregoing situation is now being j nirefl in the Canadian newspapers, and the i Montreal "Daily Btar,"' writing on the subject, Says: "Canada feels that ehe is unfairly discriminated' against .in this matter. • - Other Dominions, notably Ireland, are free r» 1 . of' these restrictions, although there is no cotintry in tba world so free from disease as " * Canada. The cattle trade has grown to be a i,imost important one, amounting now to near- * ly i fifty per cent, of CanadaY exports. It would be much larger, with advantage to ' • the cattlemen of the Dominion, if the' . made during the war were ful-j v filled in tlw spirit in which they were" made. , 'The restrictions which are handicapping ! trade should be removed at once. While ' the Americans practically bar their market . . for our cattle, we should expect fair play i and common sense from the British Government." , f .. 1 v•, FROZEN MEAT, p \ The ICew Zealand Loan and Mercantil Agency Co., Ltd., have received the following cabled advice, from London, nnder date. Bth hist.:—Lamb: 10|d per lb (average). , Mutton: 6Jd per lb, wether and maiden N ewe light; Std per lb, wether and maiden ewe heavy j 4jd per "lb, ewe light; *H per lb, ewe heavy. The market is slow. T ',' dairy produce. * : The National Mortgage and Agency Co., of New Zealand, Ltd., Christchurch, ha-ve " received the following cabled advice from London:—Butter: ;The market is slow; 168s >\H v to 170s silted; 170s to 172s unsalted. There "is a lower tendency owing to heavy stocks slow demand. Cheese: The market is lllljl •!<»•>. White 98s i colMxed 100s. -