APPLE STORAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 74, 29 March 1932, Page 10

APPLE STORAGE

IMPORTANT EXPERIMENTS

The London correspondent of "The Post" refers to promise of important reeults from the. Fruit Low Temperature Research Station of the Food investigation Board. •■■.;.

Ev"en in its early days it is: yielding great promise of success. Sir William B. Ha*rdy, F.R.S., the Government Director of Food Investigation, conceived the idea thfit a scientifically .equipped store, giving the', conditions of a ship's freezing hold, would be valuable for observations on industrial )ines, and his judgment has been fortified by numbers of trade leaders who have since seen this remarkable installation.

The first season's load of apples on test in this chamber has consisted of 120 tons of Brarrfley Seedling' apples. They ate stowed under special conditions of dunnage and breather spaces between the stacks of cases, and no fewer than two hundred thermometer reading points are established in all parts of the chamber to elicit the fullest information as to heat variations. The hold is cooled, at will, either by brine pipes on Upsides or ceiling or again by air-ducts, and the most elaborate means- are provided ; for -measuring' brine flow, so as to calculate precise heat flow quantities and conditions. One-or two visitors in the New Zealiind and Australian trade, who have seen the work going forward,, have' expressed the greatest appreciation' of the plant' arid its possibilities. 'In order ,that the effect of atmospheric' conditions 'on the fruit can fee tested'to the last degree} separate gas storage experiments are being conducted in other isolated chamkerg, the fruit being enclosed in gas-tight metal .containers, these receptacles having pumped into them known mixtures of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and oxygen, supplied from gas tanks on the premises.

..cio ejLiieuteu, me xjuuuuu inaiKet opened m sympathy with easier rates in Australia. Latest London x reports , . embody ' a measure of cheer in quoting improvement in competition between home and Continental buyers. Should this be>sustained, the market ought to register accordingly, j and,, in turn,.be helpful to Australian markets; but, allowjng for all immediate possibilities, the likelihood of any sharp or decided advance in average rates for the rest of the current season is remote. [EXCHANGE AND. PRICE. It" is satisfactory to note that the great bulkj of a record clip has been: realised, .and when : general conditions begin- the movement towards . normality, Australia will be well to the'fore in freeing herself from economic fetters. ;On a gold basis Australia's enormous wool clip of approximately 3,000,000 bales this season would be worth less than £20,000,000, equalling a trifle more than 5d per lb. As it is the [ Australian wool grower gets" nearly twice this figure,, the difference being made up from 25 per cent, exchange, which is a tax on the general community,. and. the depreciation of English .currency, since all.wool purchased for export is paid for'through London. The company says that, many growers-in Australia have fallen into arrears, with commitments. The bill of costs still stands too high, and the industry is definitely unable to bear the charge.