CITRUS FRUIT

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 35, 10 August 1933, Page 12

CITRUS FRUIT

AUSTRALIAN TRADE

EFFECT OF EMBARGO

DOMINION MARKET

Arguments in support of the lifting of tho embargo on the importation into New Zealand of Australian fruit were put forward by Mr. P. S. Macdermo tt, a, well-known Sydney fruit merchant, in an interview with a "Post" reporter today. "I eamo here to see if we could get any modification of the embargo so as to relieve the position of the citrus growers of New South Wales," said Mr. Macdermott. "We have au increasing production of citrus fruit which won't reach its peak till 1936, when we will have at least one million cases for which wo will havo to find an overseas market somewhere. Up to December 16 last year New Zealand - was our largest export market, taking approximately 200,000 cases of fruit a year. Total prohibition was imposed on December 16, and wo havo sent nq fruit since." Mr. Macdermott said that it could easily be imagined how tho embargo had affected the Australian grower. "Today, wo have beautiful granges selling in Sydney at 6d a ctozen, and mandarins selling at Id to lid a dozen." New Zealand apple and pear growers realised that on account of tho seasons synchronising there was no market for New Zealand apples and pears in Australia, and they were turning their attention to America. Australian growers did not think there was a market in America, but the New Zealand growers would not be satisfied till they had tested it. America had laid it down that if New Zealand apples and pears were to be imported, New Zealand must not receive fruit from any country in which tho Mediterranean fruit fly existed. The fruit fly existed in some Australian States; South Australia, Victoria, and portion of New South Wales were clear of the fly, however. IRRIGATION AREA. In the south-western portion of New South Wales there was the Murrumbidgee irrigation area, which previously suffered from drought, but had now been irrigated and turned into fruit farms, and was producing at least a million cases of fruit per annum. That area was free of fruit fly, and very stringent precautions were adopted to maintain it free of tho pest. Mr. Macdermott said he considered that New Zealand could trade with America and also trade with Australia, importing fruit from the areas not affected by disease. America today would allow fruit to be imported from South Australia, and steps were to be taken in Australia to have the Murrumbidgeo area also declared free of fly. The recent trade treaty entered into by New Zealand and Australia did not refer to fruit, negotiations in respect of which were still proceeding, said Mr. Maederaott, who remarked on the disparity between tho prices of fruit sold in New Zealand and that sold in Australia. "I have seen oranges here marked 3d each, ana we are selling much better quality oranges in AustTalia of the same size, at l& each," he said. "They could be bought for less, but I am quoting our best quality. Australian navel oranges could be sold in New Zealand today for Id each, and that would allow everybody handling them a reasonable profit." Incidentally Mr. Ma»aermott remarked that hundreds of men must have been thrown out of employment throughout the trade as a result of tho embargo. Fruit growers 'had thought that with a shortage of oranges more apples and pears would be consumed, but it had been found that the public soon became tired of one or two varieties of fruit. Mr. Macdermott expressed the opinion that if New Zealand pressed for the lifting of the Australian embargo on New Zealand potatoes, it would be lifted in certain States.