SHIPMENT OF BANANAS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25924, 3 October 1949, Page 6

SHIPMENT OF BANANAS

—♦— DELIVERY NOT ACCEPTED 750 CASES IN HOLD OF MATAROA A consignment of 750 cases of bananas from Fiji arrived at Wellington in the Mataroa on Friday in such poor condition that the Marketing Department refused to accept delivery of the fruit, which is still in the ship’s hold. The bananas, when inspected in the ship on Saturday at Lyttelton, were “boiled” —still unripe, but soft. Fruit in this condition blackens rapidly when exposed to the atmosphere. “The bananas were absolutely unfit for human consumption,” said the branch manager of the Marketing Department (Mr J. A. Manton) last evening. “They appear to have been smothered,” he added. The bananas were described by Mr H. E. Radley, a Christchurch fruit and produce merchant, as a “total writeoff.” Mr Radley said that he had noticed them when he went down the hold to inspect some melons and tomatoes consigned to an Auckland firm. Because this fruit had not been unloaded at Wellington he had inspected it. on instructions from Auckland. he said. There were, he believed, about 150 cases of tomatoes. These had also deteriorated during the journey, but he hoped they would be saleable if they could be cleared early from the ship. Tomatoes and melons stood upl to heat better than bananas, he added. He did not know how many melons] there were and he would not be ablel to toll their condition until he in-l spected them out of the hold. I The spoiling of this fruit was uni fortunate.’ said Mr Radley, but morel so for Wellington consumers than foil Christchurch residents. The fruit wal normally unloaded at the first port ol call in New Zealand and it had beeiß expected that this shipment would bl distributed in Wellington.

Often the wrong type of food w» included in food parcels being sell from New Zealand to Britain, said Mfr J. L. Hay, who has just returned from a visit overseas, in an address at Knox Presbyterian Church yesterday morning. The lady of a household at Eastbourne, in which Mrs Hay and he had stayed, had remarked: “If only I could get a little white flour to z make a batch of scones.” The flour in England was of very poor quality, said Mr Hay. A shortage of meat was. however. the crux of the English food problem. A family had meat once a week and because of its high cost a tiny joint had to go round the whole family.