FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22445, 5 July 1938, Page 13

FROZEN PRODUCE LETTER

SUGGESTED COMMODITY COUNCILS NEW ZEALAND MEAT PUBLICITY (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, June 13. The view that little of lasting good ean result from the formation of commodity councils within the Empire is certainly not that of the Home producers. The general secretary of the National Farmers’ Union, Mr Cleveland Fyfe, who was an official delegate to'the recent Sydney Conference, claims that the gathering of producers’ representatives from all parts of the Empire was a success, and that the Home farmers are in favour of the recommendations put forward in Sydney. He says that it now remains for the other Empire farmers’ organisations to say whether they endorse the recommendations. If their views agree with those of the Home producers, the setting-up of the suggested commodity councils for mutton and lamb, dairy products, etc., to function on the lines of the Empire Beef Council and the International Beef Conference, can be begun immediately. Mr Fyfe further declares that if this agreement is not forthcoming, the formation of the councils must be delayed until the obstacles have been removed, and it will rest with the British Government to safeguard Home agricultural interests in the meanwhile. Mr John H. Wain, another delegate, and chairman of the National Farmers’ Union’s mills committee, has stated K /’at the United Kingdom organisations play their part in endeavouring 1 ;/W 0 give effect to the principles embodied in the resolutions adopted at the Sydney conference, and will watch with s'ympathy the efforts made in . the Dominions to implement the decisions of the conference. He admits that the Dominion farmers have a difficult task before them, and says that it is so easy for those whose interests are not those of agricultural producers to misrepresent and wrongly interpret the conclusions of the conference. “The spirit of goodwill created by the conference will, I am sure, be of inestimable help in the difficulties we are sure to encounter when we try to give practical effect to what was achieved in Sydney,” says Mr Wain.

Lamb “Drive” in Hull One of the most successful of the publicity “drives” for New Zealand produce in the United Kingdom has recently concluded in Hull. The campaign was launched by Mr R. S. Forsyth, C.M.G., the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board’s British representative, and supported by the High Commissioner, Mr W. J. Jordan. During a luncheon in the City Guildhall, when Mr Jordan was entertained by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, New Zealand produce figured very prominently in the menu, which included toheroa soup. Mr Jordan, responding to a toast, said that British sheep and cattle had the foundation stock for the Dominion’s flocks and herds, and the very grass in the Dominion was British. He was pleased that direct shipments from New Zealand to Hull were being main-* tained; the increase in that trade would depend upon the development of the demand for New Zealand produce in that part of the country. In return, the Dominion was taking manufactures from Hull, and the reciprocal trading could be developed considerably. He looked forward to the time when direct shipments to Hull would follow a weekly schedule. After the luncheon, the Lord Mayor presented cups and diplomas to successful competitors in the windowdressing and other contests, more than 150 local traders attending the ceremony. More than 90 shops in Hull had devoted their window displays to New Zealand .lamb. Similar publicity campaigns had been planned for other parts of the country.

Fruit Growers’ Appeal The May drought and frosts have made the British market almost entirely dependent upon imported supplies during the coming season. So bad is the position that a meeting ~f 300 of the leading growers at Cambridge passed a unanimous resolution appealing for immediate assistance from the Government to tide them over the worst situation for a very long time. As stated in resolutions passed at the meeting, their case is that, after a series of disastrous seasons, the weather had ruined their crops, that they had had tc discharge labour, and u .that a very large proportion of the xpwers now faced with destitution X™'ad no other means of livelihood. They asked the Government to receive a deputation to discuss relief and protective duties or other means of making the industry self-supporting and stabilising prices for English fruit. Lord Eltisley, who presided, said that the sufferings of the most enterprising, industrious, and courageous body of growers in England would increase unless the Government came to their assistance at once. Mr J. G. Faircliffe, a. delegate from the National Farmers’’ Union and a prominent grower, said the disastrous frosts in the present season followed four bad years for the industry, and • Mr T. H. Langon, another delegate, said that from 150 acres he would get only half a ton of fruit. Mr J. Stanley Chivers, member of 9 n e of the largest fruit growing and . jam making firms in the country, said that his firm had* done everything Possible to get duties on imported fruit and fruit pulp. Their efforts seemed so hopeless that two years ago they decided the only course was to grub up some of their orchards, and they had destroyed 300 acres of plums and apples. Illustrating the intensive competition the home grower experienced from imported supplies, Mr fJhivers Pointed out that Bulgarian strawberry pulp could be bought in London at £2O a ton, which meant that . Bulgarian growers received 2d per lb b for :t. I . Success has attended the first efforts In the United Kingdom to keep Conference pears in gas storage. A Maidstone firm had two chambers in store, amounting to about 7000 bushel I storage-boxes. Marketing in London

was commenced on April 8, and has just concluded. The pears are reported to have kept remarkably well and were hard, sound, and alive for at least a fortnight after removal from store, even the strig being green. They ripened up during the third week and kept in excellent condition for at least 10 days, full of quality and flavour. Coincident with this report, Mr T. N. Hoblyn. at the Royal Society of Arts in London, described experiments carried out in Canada on the keeping qualities of apples in store, which showed that samples of apples from the samedree might be extremely variable. Samples from different trees, however, tend to vary to a greater extent than those from a single tree. Inherent differences between trees were more important than those associated with position or degree of winter injury. ' Within trees, large differences in the amount of core flush were found between samples containing varying sized and coloured apples, the small red apples showing the least. Colour alone had an influence upon scald, the green apples showing the most.

The apples were kept for eight months in two similar storage chambers maintained at temperatures of 36 degrees Fahrenheit and 32 • degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. Allowance was made for the possibility of different positions within the storerooms affecting variability.