REPORT ON THE FRUIT INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 100, 29 April 1937, Page 15

REPORT ON THE FRUIT INDUSTRY

(Continued from Page 14.)

to meet the position at all satisfactorily. ' : . ■

"A purely ■ co-operative society of growers alone would not only be difficult to establish, but would surely fail through lack of loyalty on the part of its individual members. Experience has. taught that it is practically impossible to' retain the undivided loyalty of primary producers in the absence of legislative backing.

"There are, no doubt, too many wholesale firms operating in Dunedin, but the committee is not prepared to recommend, as urged.by many of the growers of the. district, that the Government take action towards closing some'of. them up... The doing of. this, in effect, has been within the power of the producers themselves by merely remaining loyal to their own copperative wholesale society which has been operating as fruit auctioneers and distributors in - Dunedin for the past .15 or 20 years. Notwithstanding the excessive number of wholesale firms a considerable improvement would be effected were all the wholesale firms operating-in one central position, -and in this connection the committee recommends that the Dunedin City Council •be approached through the Government with a view to having centralised marketing facilities established as early as practicable.

. "The committee.is not altogether satisfied that the fixing: of a minimum wholesale price for fruit in the; manner suggested by the growers would be at. all readily workable and therefore is of the opinion that consideration 'of :this proposal should be deferred and be taken up again if other methods designed to improve the position prove abortive. " To mention one objection only, it is well known that when minimum prices are fixed there is a strong tendency for such prices to become maximum prices."

The recommendations 'of the committee include: —(1) That an Otago stone-fruit marketing authority be established in Otago to direct and control the marketing of Otago stonefruits. ' (2) That the Government, through the Bureau of Industry, fin-' ance the erection and equipment of cool stores of 12,000 t<-> 16,000 cases capacity at Alexandra and Roxburgh respectively. (3) That the marketing authority, when established, consider the question of standard grading and packing .of stone-fr.uits together with other marketing factors such as pooling and make recommendations to the Marketing Department accordingly.