COOK ISLANDS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 27, 31 July 1924, Page 8

COOK ISLANDS

THE FRUIT TRADE

AN ALLEGATION AND A DENIAL.

The secretary of the Auckland Fruit Importers' Association has sent the following telegram to the Prime Minister, protesting against a statement made by the Minister in Charge of the Cook Islands in the House on Tuesday, when discussing the shipment of Island fruit, ex Ngakuta :

"Fruit merchants strongly resent statoment of Minister for the Cook Islands, as published in Press, that 'fruit is too expensive owing to its scarcity and the fruit ring.' The Minister has no rightto take advantage of his Parliamentary privileges to make an unwarranted and unjustified attack upon reputable merchants, and we look to you, as head of the Government and responsible for the statements of members of your Cabinet, to see that those who cannot protect themselves should receive British fair play, and either make the' Minister prove his accusations or else withdraw the same, with a suitable apology. . , The Minister's statements only show that he does not realise the necessity and exigencies of the trade, and that he is deliberately asserting the existence of a fruit ring with the object of misleading members o! Parliament and the public of New Zealand in an attempt to draw their attention away from the real issue. —H. Fisher, secretary, Auckland Fruit Importers' Association."

Sir Maui Pomare, Minister in Charge of the Cook Islands, to whom a copy of the above message was referred, stated this afternoon that up to the present time he had received no communication from the Auckland' Fruit Importers' Association. . He had, however, received a letter from the Wellington Fruit Importers' Association, to which he was forwarding a reply. The Minister states that close investigations by competent officials have been made into the methods of sale and distribution of Island fruib in Auckland, and it would appear_ as if the disposal of such fruit was affected by concerted action on the part of some persons., The Minister added that he was perfectly familiar with the exigencies of the trade," arxl with the position of affairs at the Cook Islands.

In the House this afternoon, the Minister made a statement on the question. . i