PRICES OF CHERRIES.

Evening Star, Issue 20988, 30 December 1931, Page 10

PRICES OF CHERRIES.

*0 THU EDITOR.

Sir, —I feel as secretary of tho Otago Retail Fruiterers’ Association that I cannot let your local in last night’s issue of the ‘ Evening Star ’ go unchallenged. The Royal Commission which you refer to should not he set up to inquire into the question of retail fruiterers’ profits, for I fear much of them go into the garbage tin, but rather that the Royal Commission should go into the question of applying tho axe to all of tho poor varieties and poorly-grown cherry trees in tho Roxburgh district. It is an established fact that there is far too much poor fruit marketed, not only cherries, but all classes of fruit. Until this practice is abolished and the rubbish kept off the market, how can fruitgrowers prosper ? The Roxburgh grower reported to the ‘ Star ’ that he was forced to sell in Christmas week (he did not mention at auction, but I guess he means at auction) big firm cherries at 3d per lb, and saw the same kind of cherries (perhaps his own, as he claims they might have been) marked in a shop window at Is 6d lb. I ask when he viewed this same kin 1 of cherry in the shop window, did he have his magnifying glasses on, or may I suggest rather that these cherries have never seen Roxburgh, and that the grower of such fruit might be Kinnaird, Davidson, Dawson, Annan, Thorley, Roberts, or Campbell, or one of the excellent cherry growers from the Alexandra and Clyde district. Growers such as these never fail to get reasonable prices for their fruit, and I would suggest to tho Roxburgh cherry grower to t. ’ o a trip to Alexandra and Clyde and see what variety of cherries he should grow, and perhaps get a tip how to grow them, and then see how they are packed, and I feel he would profit far better than coming to town to see his fruit, which I say must have been very poor, call for little or no demand.

I enclose for your perusal invoices for cherries purchased in Christmas week by several of the Retail fruiterers at diffe cut auction rooms at prices ranging from 4d to 6d, 9d to Is, Is 2d to Is 8:ld. Now these are not isolated cases, but are the general ruling wholesale prices at different auction rooms. Cherries have never been retailed cheaper in Christmas week, the 6d per lb ticket being displayed in every fruit simp, an;l larger and better varieties ranging to 2s 3d per lb. Perhaps in future the Press would be wise to investigate the facts before rushing into print with such an erroneous statement of one who should try, as a few other growers have done, to open a fruit shop and sell direct to the public, see that selling from the orchard to the public has been a failure.—l am, etc., H. A. New Aim, Secretary Otago Retail Fruiterers’ Association. Dunedin, December 30. [lnvoices of sales at auction have been inspected by ns, and certainly bear out the above statements.—Ed. E.S.] to rax HDITOX. Sir, —I notice a report in the ‘ Star ’ last evening that a fruitgrower insinuated that cherries for which he received 3d per lb were being offered to the public by retailers at Is 6d per lb. Unfortunately the public swallow tales of this description. During my experience as a fruit merchant, I am satisfied, first that the salesman would never think of selling cherries at 3d per_ lb if there was a possibility of retailing them at Is 6d. Cherries have been sold in Dunedin at 3d, but they have been overripe, wasty, and in many instances, if not sour, at least tart, and more fit for jam making than for dessert purposes. Choice quality cherries, especially from the Alexandra district, where we get our very best fruits—- “ good cherries have been cheap ”—realised as low as 9d and lOd; but, on the other hand, we have secured as high as Is 6d for extra choice quality, and I. have seen the same cherries that wo have sold at 9d retailed at Is, cherries wo have sold at Is IJd retailed at Is 6d, and the cherries we have sold at 1s 6d retailed at 2s, while the cherries we sold at 3d and 4rJ have been retailed at 6d. '

The wholesale merchant naturally takes a keen interest in seeing that his consignor gets fair value for his produce, and your Roxburgh grower must have struck a particularly bad distributor, when, according to his insinuations, there was a difference of Is 3d between the wholesale and retail price. Watching the retail shops very carefully, noting the wholesale prices, I will undertake to say that retailers, if they average 33 1-3'per cent, per year on their purchases are certainly very lucky, doing much better than our observations would lead us to believe. _ Fruiterers have heavy losses. Deterioration, loss of weight,' bruised and damaged fruit, which must at least average 10 per cent. Probably the reason why so many fruit retailers find it difficult to carry on is duo’ to the fact that the public are very, discriminating, keen to patronise those fruiterers who sell at cut prices, often with a margin of only 20 per cent, to cover overhead expenses. —T am, etc., E. Oswald Reilly. December 30.

TO 188 EDITOR. Sir, —We were very surprised to see your local in last night’s ‘ Star ’ re price of cherries. Your _ Roxburgh grower claims to have obtained 3d per lb for big firm cherries last week. It is quite possible that this price was obtained several weeks ago for poor quality small cherries, but last week our average price for choice firm cherries was from Is to Is 8J per lb. You are quite at liberty to come along and examine our auction sheets if you wish to bear this statement out. Last Wednesday we were selling choice cherries at Is - 8d per lb. while other growers’ fruit was very hard to place at 3d per lb. We had two crates of this latter variety loft over from our Christmas Eve sale which we could not sell at any price, and on returning to business on Monday morning these two crates had to be consigned to the pig barrel, being simply one mass of mould.

The time has now come when growers will have to grow better quality fruit if they want to obtain payable prices. Many varieties of cherries on the market have been practically unsaleable, and if your Roxburgh grower had visited the various auction rooms when ho was in town instead of rushing to the paper he would have seen what little demand existed for his fruit. This week prices have dropped fully 100 per cent., but your grower is talking of last week, and wo can only say that this man’s cherries could not have been choice quality if he obtained 3d per lb. Your grower suggests that the proper authorities should make investi-

gations and overhaul the present system of marketing. There is only one agency which controls the prices of fruit, and that is supply and demand. —X am, etc., \ J. H. Hinton, Jun., Auctioneer, Thomas Paterson and Co. December 30.

TO TUB EDITOR. Sir, —By the leading of your pages during tne holiday period 1 sympathise with your reporters re the scarceness of news, but 1 hardly think that this justifies the attack made in the article in to-night’s-‘ Star ’ re unreasonable profits made by fruiterers of this city. 1 would like to suggest to tho person responsible for its appearance that, if ho is convinced that these profits are correct, then he should get into the fruit business without delay, and there are a great many of these businesses for sale to-day. Perhaps the complaining grower would be better advised to go in for pigs and find a more ready outlet for his fruit that is only worth 3d lb in Christmas week. Good fruit, honestly packed, always brings its full market value, and has been in keen demand lately. My firm has been paying Is 2)d to Is 4d for cherries to retail at Is 6d, whilst other cherries, retailed at 6d and 8d cost 4d to 5d per lb. As the manager of a shop that has always traded in quality, I resent very much the statement in your article in to-night’s ‘ Star,’ so grossly inaccurate and unjust to all honest fruiterers. _ I would welcome any honest investigation by you as to unreasonable profits made by us, and think you would be well advised to investigate thoroughly before printing such statements against any section of business people. —I am, etc., A. E. Hatman (Hayman Bros. Ltd., Dunedin). December 29.