TWO DISASTROUS YEARS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 264, 4 August 1937, Page 6

TWO DISASTROUS YEARS

Hawke’s Bay Fruit-growers ANNUAL REPORT OF ASSOCIATION Dominion Special Service. Hastings, August 3. “Two disastrous years in succession, one bringing a hurricane and the other a series of ruinous frosts, overshadowed all the other activities of our organisation,” says the annual report of the president of the .Hawke’s Bay Fruit-growers Association, Mr. ,1. 11. Milne, to be presented at the association’s annual meeting. “Immediately after a, frost relief commitlee was set up, and with the ready assistance of Messrs. E. L. Cullen and H. M. Christie and the Hon. W. E. Barnard. M.P.’s, efforts were made to obtain assistance. The Minister of Agriculture, Hon. W. Dee Martin, accompanied by the Director-General of Agriculture, Mr. A. H. Cockayne, visited the district. They were shown over several orchards and received first-hand information about the damage. Further negotiations with the Departments of Agriculture and Labour resulted in a measure of assistance being given to those most in need. This relief was instrumental in keeping on their properties many orchardists who might otherwise have had to seek employment elsewhere. The mayor of Hastings, Mr. G. A. Maddison, with Mr. Cullen and a number of Hastings business men, paid a visit to several typical orchards in the district, and what they saw convinced them that the report of the damage w;as in no way exaggerated. The export total for the year (some 9000 cases) also bore testimony that the losses were not exaggerated. “The organisation of labour and the fixation of wages and working conditions made it necessary to form a local branch of the New’Zealand Fruit-growers’ Industrial Union of Employers. This has now been accomplished, with a substantial membership. Two field days held at an experimental orchard were well attended. Addresses were given by Mr. N. J. Adamson, orchard instructor to the Agricultural Department, on up-to-date orchard practices and frost-prevention, and a demonstration of oil-burning pots was given, many growers expressing their intention of adopting this method of protection. Mr. Adamson gave an outline of experiments undertaken during the past year and an indication of those to be carried out during the coming season. A number of experiments could not be undertaken as. because of . frost, no fruit was available to work on.” The report pays a tribute to the able services of the secretary, Mr. A. L. Baumgart, who had extra responsibilities placed upon him this year with the Frost Relief Adjustment Court and labour matters.