DOMINION FRUIT

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 139, 16 June 1930, Page 3

DOMINION FRUIT

CROP PROSPECTS

WORK OF BOARD

Before leaving home, I had tho pleasure of meeting in London Mr. H. E. Stephens,'the representative of the New Zealand Fruit Board—a governing body created with "the object of protecting the interests of growers at the marketing end. The entire crop of New Zealand fruit sent to England is consigned by the Fruit Board to Mr. Stephens and distributed and sold under his personal observation, writes Sh' Richard Winfrey, member of the Empire Farmers' party which toured the Dominion, in the "Peterborough Advertiser." "My position here," Mr. Stephens told mo, "is practically to distribute all the New Zealand fruit. After the fruit is packed in New Zealand, and passed by tho Government inspectors, our board takes control; the grower has nothing further to do with it then. We attend to the whole of the freights, insurance., and distribution of the fruit at this end. It all conies over consigned to me, and on arrival here I allot it out among the brokers who are on our aproved list according to their ability to handle it. This means that no- firm geti overloaded, because we always find out definitely their ability to handle any particular shipment beforo the allotment is made, and by this means we expect to place the fruit where it can be sold to the best advantage. "And are you satisfied with the result obtained from this system of supervised distribution?" "GROWING PAST." "Yes, speaking broadly, we are. "We recognise, however," added Mr. Stephens, "that our export is increasing very fast now, and for that reason wo will have to widen our scheme of distribution. Up to the present we have concentrated rather much on London." : Mr. Stephens is a fruit farmer himself, and has kindly invited me to visit his place near Kelson, which I hope to do; I asked him to give me some information regarding the growth of the industry, and this is what he has written to me:— New Zealand is in competition, on. the world's fruit markets with U.S.A., South Africa, and Tasmania. Our soil and climate are admirably suited for fruit culture. Production towards the end of the 'nineties outpaced consumption, leaving a surplus available for export and a few experimental shipments to England were tried in the twentieth century. The growing trade claimed the attention of the Government, and the original Orchards and Garden Diseases Act was passed in 1903. . A couple of years later the orchard division of the Department of Agriculture was created. During the next five years the progress of the industry resulted in the formation of bodies of orchardists, and in 1910 the New Zealand Fruit Growers' Federation was constituted. In that year the principal efforts to establish thoroughly the- export trade to England took place, and by 1915 the overseas market included South America. The. greatest quantity of fruit shipped in one year was 70,000 cases (401b each). SPOILED BY THE WAR. Business looked promising when, the war cut it to pieces, causing the.trade to be abandoned. Export was taken up again in 1920, when 30,000 cases were shipped to England. Since then there has been, a substantial yearly increase. South America again consumes our apples, the Argentine Uruguyan. markets absorbing between 50,000 and 70,00 cases. In 1926 the export, figures from our ports were 730,000. eases, the major portion of "which, went ttr England. Last year there was a slight falling oft' as far as quantity was. concerned, but otherwise tho season was ' the most successful yet experienced. Prices were good, and buyers satisfied with tho fruit received. This season the production, prospects are brighter than ever. The crops are good in all districts, and apart from slight hail damage the fruit is clean and of good appearance. The total bookings, including pears, amount to some 900,000 cases, most of which are destined for England and the Continent. Between 70,000 and 80,000, cases will be shipped to South America. It is possible that the Canadian market — tested out last year with 2000 cases sent via Montreal—may receive 20,000 cases this year.