THE FRUIT TRADE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20025, 5 September 1930, Page 15

THE FRUIT TRADE.

, pfQUIRY INK> MARKETING. evidence. [t ga PBJSS Bp«w 69r * 104 - ] ' September 4, 5 . ifh, enquiry by the-Industries and Comtaittee of the House of Sentatives into the marketing of "L Mi vegetables wfis continued to■g™ 6. C. Munns (V., Koskill) preJoseph Williamson, repie- " tiiur the Otago and Southland Fruit a produce Brokers' Association, said Mi Awooiatlon was satisfied that pri'o enterprise could help in the march "JLiess. It was also opposed to excontrol, especially under a GovJnineat guarantee. It would be better ; . t |,- e Government to spend the losses L t j| ffa s making on the export trade - jjjisting the growers to store their Mttiies the Dominion, and thus pre- ' lot the necessity for importations. fruit brokers or retailers were kiting money out of the industry at Si present time. All the auctioneers '•MTfi tha growers the best attention *§d the business was on a bettor basis '•'Way than it had been for a number ' iTyeart' Many of the retailers made Jjjj than the average labourer. , £■'- Banana Trade. ".The? found in the banana trade about 20 per cent, was falsely : 'ifajked, and it was desirable that the ~S#wn" nent bring in a standard ,\uk In regard to size, they prefer'\Sgelling to the public by private msty rather than by auction. Often V private person, under exoitoment, -liddeht fruit he did not want, and did , p take delivery. There was no ncesrw for a Government audit as the aucPJoneMs' books were always open for infraction by tho grower or retailer. The %WtiOii rooms were cleaned once a day, M ia Dunedin they were spotless. The Sfestration of growers was a matter jw the Government, but if registration too severe it might curtail proby putting some of the growers fist of business. Again, if the grading too rigid it would mean Jut■ the poorer people would be deprived of getting fruit within their ' m"" The man who grew good fruit inj packed it honestly always got a pti price. So Combination of Wholesalers. 5 Mr'M. J. Savage '(Lab., Auckland Do you think there is sufficient Mtogrgwn in New Zealand for local , fyairetaentsf • J jtaWilliamson: Yes. ' f Mr Savaget Do you think that there ft "ring" amnogst the wholesalers, L'lffcdo th6jr sell freely t Mr Williamson: There is no ''ring" rsai ottld go further, and say that '"Wji tim«« out of twelve, although wo iest, a loss is shown on conyiip'pTitt rtf bananas from Auckland, dieted'that the Government would 170,000 on the export guarV<%jniHi>tttirman pointed out that the. 110,000 since the scheme ' iW&Si that £BO.OOO of this was general strike of 1926. •year would bo about £IOO. J® Island Fruit. Donald, representing A. B, fltohjjraßtl Co., Ltd., Auckland, gave wilmtial. figures showing that' there ittfrjljequently a loss in the banana that, in favourable clrcumthere was only a nominal profit. iHtJienied most emphatically that ex* tiragant profits had been made ih the ,Cfti Islands trade. Greater supervls' ■,was needed over the packing and >jdxig of fruit, otherwise the Auckcould not carry on the trad& yjttljjjnly part of the island business tPiilfas properly organised was the to Mr J. G; Fletcher, (Ind., i Mr Donald said that the nsjttlUMts dealing In bananas met on nk >harf on the arrival ,of a ship£mjit£ bad after an examination of the the maximum price, but noPnjf ws' done to prevent a merchant egoa.' selling at less than that price. course was taken in the fruit : pip. all over the world. Properly inwottld lessen the risk is trade. pointed out that previous Hmef?iuppliod to the Committee had ■rajfrhbat the cost Of landing bananas had been lis 6d and 14s the bananas had been Hw&bfttiaid-pointed out that the re* HHSgon the wharf picked out the ■Hglabii paid a good price for It, but tf they sold 20 wharf. The remainder ■pipiHMti'ilOt being so good had to HraptraAt-V.-lower price, and it wasHSflpftfiMQ take an average of the for the whole of the eonnfWVhe average cost of landing as were concerned, was about Views. a fruit retailer of Papa-. ■fflfflgkeUalie had been in business as a for about 40 years KgjHm.ijWa)|l.ol? the opinion that the auc* as carried on in Auckbest and most economic handling fruit unci vegetables consumer. Further imbe brought,about If a BaSWaibiir ,af growers who simply get into the game" HHSijlgi'edbe&ted b .the ideas of HKffipatbn and the ttrowing, handtheir products. Mr BK&P&tlthe turnover of the Auek-BHraHK-'ilaarkets ■ probably aggregated to £1,000,000 per annum. agree that there was a BBBMPn the' banana trade. It had TOmlmembared that the products ItwiH^g^laTid,,Canada, and California, ■BHSPMftroperlv graded, packed, and BBH||yjAoiin:t<ril for a- large proporK»;arao m t, and it should be ■HlHew Zealand-grown fruit ■W» on the market, graded, conditioned in the BBg«|SWpta imported goods were.