THE FRUIT INDUSTRY
10 THE EDITOR. Sir,^-Last night you gave the views (partly) of the growers, the barrowmen, ' and the vendors. Her© are some views of a consumer. There may be a glut of fruit more than usual, as you say, bqb we. see no signs of it. ' We pass along the streets and look longingly at the rosy apples in the shops and on the barrows, but the same old prices stare us in the face. lam a lover of fruit, and icould practically live on it it it werej cheaper. It cannot be.called to-day &r> ordinary article of diet; it is simply an, expensive luxury, which few can afford,. I and the man with a 'big fam- ■ ily is quite unable to pay the 6dor 8d per pound usually demanded for good apples. Are not the fruit-sellers keeping up prices? You can, of course, buy cheap fruit well rubbed up and fair looking on the side exposed to. the public, but when you get it home it is; not worth eating. The vendors, I submit, could sell much cheaper if they wanted to do so and make good profits too. I have been a grower, on a small scale, and many a time would have been quite satisfied with one-halfpenny, per' pound for all the apples in my orchard. I have sometimes sent fruit to the salerooms, and my net return has not been sufficient to pay the' cost of the fruit case, yet the same fruit later on has appeared in the retail shops at from 3d to 6d'per pound. We-want a solution of what seems to be a real difficulty— i.e., to bring the grower and the consumer, nearer to one another for'their mutual advantage—and it appears to "me. that the only way is to focus the, distribution into one channel somewhat on tlie lines of the municipal milk supply. Fruit is a necessity to us, almost as great a necessity- as milk, and if a public body can successfully dispense one, wiry nqtthe other? One depot for all' Wellington, as an experiment, where paper bags containing not less than, say, four or five pounds of good apples, at. a reasonable price, could be obtained in season, would meet a much-felt want, and probably go far towards helping a very necessary but at present unpayable, industry.— I anyetc.," 1 " ''"'" ' A LOVER OF'FRUIT. 10th April. '
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 86, 11 April 1923, Page 5
Word Count
398THE FRUIT INDUSTRY Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 86, 11 April 1923, Page 5
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