The Evening Star THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1928. THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Evening Star, Issue 19892, 14 June 1928, Page 6

The Evening Star THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1928. THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Thb most intensive users of the land, to quote the Minister of Agriculture, are discussing their industry in Wellington. The fact of this being only the twelfth annual conference of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation indicates that this is one of our latest forms of production for export. With help from the Government it has been securely established, and Mr Hawken suggested yesterday that the time has come when the Government will not need to put its hand in its pocket any longer because of fruitgrowers needing assistance. Goi'ernment help has been granted in other ways than by grants and guarantees. The citrus growers in the North Island have been given an indirect subsidy in the form of the duty on lemons, and now growers in both islands arc seeking a similar impost on cherries, the principal source of competition with the local fruit in each case being Australia. It may be that the protection will gradually induce enough local production to satisfy the demand, and that it is premature to condemn the citrus duty for inflicting pronounced scarcity at certain times of the year. But it appears to us that freight charges on fruit in New Zealand need overhauling with a view to reduction. That the cost of carrying cherries from Wellington to Auckland is double that of bringing them from Australia is a fact hardly creditable, to the dominion business methods. It appears that this trans-Tasman trade has developed to an extent not appreciated in Dunoliu, well supplied by the Teviot district, and that it is profitable is indicated by a statement that in Australia cherry orchards are being planted with New Zealand in view as the principal, if not tho sole, market for their yield. It is gratifying to see that the spirit of emulation has been provoked among New Zealand orchardists, and that this - challenge is to be taken up—if the inducement of yet another duty is forthcoming. But is a word in favour of the consumer permissible? The customary price ot cherries in our retail shops makes them a quasi-luxury to the majority. It might be fairer to the public to defer tho operation of tho duty until the orchards to bo planted locally in an- • ticipation of the sought for Customs protection come into bearing and enable locally-grown supplies to approximate to the demand, which at present they admittedly do not. So far as we know Otago orchardists have not complained of Australian competition. Cherries, in fact, are understood to bo about tho most reliable profit-makers of all the fruits grown. In the meantime it 1 might be advisable to examine thoroughly the cost of distribution in New Zealand and find out exactly what is keeping producer and consumer so far apart in the matter of prices. It is something of a novelty to find no less a person than the President of tho Federation inviting growers of pip fruits to hold themselves blameworthy for the poor returns which they habitually claim the local markets yield them. In too many instances tho poor prices (wholesale) are the direct result of poor quality. This season, in particular, the size and flavour of apples in tho shops flave been distinctly below the average, and the falling off is not accompanied by any perceptible reduction in retail prices. The principal reason is the exceptional volume of exports. Tho choice fruit is shipped, and none but the choice; the culls are what tho local consumer most content himself with buying. It k not surprising that he is not a keen buyer. Mr Brash declares that with apples and pears tho position on the local market is deplorable because of this dumping, and ho advocates that grading should be the rule just as it is for export. Once again it appears to be a case of the shoemaker’s children going the worst shod. The reason is not any exceptional prices being obtainable in London. Australia’s enormous shipments have lowered prices all round there. And even so by no means the whole of the Australian ci op has been put on the market, Home or domestic. In Victoria, particularly, cases are reported with saddening frequency of apples being left to rot on the trees, or of pigs being turned into the orchards, because picking was not a payable proposition. Orchard-plant-ing of most kinds appears to have been overdone in the Commonwealth, and in a year of prolific yields th,ere is such a glut that New Zealand orchardists feel the effects in various markets. No such stage has been approached in New Zealand, but the grower has to be on his guard against “ dumping,” and has also to take note of the increasing supplies going from countries hitherto not seriously reckoned with as fruit producers to tho same export market as our own shipments.