BLACK-LISTED ORCHARDS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1257, 12 October 1911, Page 8

BLACK-LISTED ORCHARDS.

A PROTKST X IJO.M TIIU GKOWEHS. Furllicr details of (.'lie sricvanccs of llio Now South Wales T'ruinjiwi'r--' Vnion, as c.ilileil recoil!ly, niv from the tltioy mail wliicli nrriveil yosicnluy. licinbcrs of the union waited lipnu the Minister for Agriculture (.Mr. Trelle) and voiced certain gricviincps ugainol the new regulations ivhich rerjuire 10 per cent of a consignment to bo tipped out of the cases for inspection before being shipped. They complained thai this tippin;; caused daniase to the fruit, becansc of the impossibility of repacking it as it was originally, and also that delay was involved, and "that, the growers thus suffered in making their arrangements for the markets. They suggested that the old system should be reverted to.

lir. I'reflo said that the whole trouble had arisen from a careless system of dispatching fruit to New Zealand. Representations had been made to him on several occasions that the old method was bad. New Zealand had followed the plan of putting orchards upon a black list if fruit was found to be infected, but the result of this was that many an innocent grower had been victimised. A dishonest shipper would label fruit, as coming from a certain orchard when it had not como from that orchard at all. Thus a grower entirely innocent would find his fruit black-listed in New Zealand. To overcome that contingency the officers of the New South Wales Department thought it would be better to have the inspection made oil tho Sydney side. He read an extract from a letter from the New Zealand authorities, in which it was stated thai" 40 clean orchards in New South Wales were on the black list. This it would be recognised was a sprious matter; and it was thought, therefore, that the new method should be given a fair trial. At the same time lie admitted that fruit was likely to be seriouslv damaged in repacking, and he would therefore communicate at once to see if they could not go back to the old system, with possibly certain modifications. He honed, however, that tho growers would take stens to check the tricksters by whom they had previously been victimised. In answer to a suggestion of Mr. Hunt, that the growers should be consulted before changes were made in the regulations. 3fr. Trcfls said any representative appointed by the growers would "have access to everything we do."