FROST DAMAGED FRUIT

Evening Star, Issue 22718, 4 August 1937, Page 2

FROST DAMAGED FRUIT

HEAVY LOSSES LAST SEASON CONTROL MEASURES [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, August 3. Reference to New Zealand’s fruit Josses during the last season, on account of frost and other climatological factors, was made by the Acting Minister of Marketing (the Hon. WT Lee Martin) at a combined conference of the New Zealand Fruit Com trol Board and the Fruitgrowers Federation to-day. The Minister stated that the damage by frost and hail had reduced the quantity of fruit exported, the total exports,' 902,337 cases _of apples and 42,416 cases of pears, being the lowest since 1927. Frost relief in the form of sustenance and a subsidy on the expenditure for labour had been granted by the Government to those growers who had been badly hit, and the assistance given had been much appreciated., The Minister, reviewing the industry, stated that an officer of the department had recently investigated the methods of frost control in California, and his findings would be available to growers in districts where frost damage was prevalent. The officer referred to by the Minister is Mr W. R. Lloyd Williams, orchard instructor at Alexandra, who recently returned to the Dominion.