REVOLTING STORY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 27 May 1925, Page 7

REVOLTING STORY.

PACKING SMYRNA SULTANAS

FOUL METHODS

LONDON, May 8. Continuing his disclosures regarding conditions in the Levant fruit trade, Dr. L. Haden Guest, M.P., in an article in the Daily Mail, describes the packing of sultanas in one of the largest establishments in Smyrna. “The fruit,” he says, “was delivered in sacks, of which some had been used for three years and were almost black with decay. The sultanas were emptied on to the floor, scooped into baskets and conveyed to a sifting machine, from which they were heaped on the floor, preparatory to being packed for export. “A barefooted man constantly walked to and fro in the boxes, pressing the fruit down with his feet. He was very dirty, but was pleased to pose f>r a photograph. His feet had been unwashed for a long period, there being a broad black band of dirt from the toe' to the heel of each foot, and black dirt between the toes. “As the packer trampled the fruit a sweeper collected spilled sultanas from the wet floor and replaced them in the boxes. “I visited other packing sheds. Some were carried out on a worse system, but none on a better. “The sanitary convenience was a noisome little lean-to inside the main shed, only a few yards,from the heaps of sultanas. The convenience was so dirty that it was impossible to step inside without becoming fouled. “The question is not whether dirt is trampled in the sultanas, but how much, and what kind of dirt, and also whether disease germs are trampled in.”