COVENT GARDEN SALE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 210, 18 August 1933, Page 8

COVENT GARDEN SALE

NEW ZEALAND PEACHES SENT FOR FIRST TIME. A GOOD PRICE OBTAINED. DUNEDIN, Aug. 17. A gross return ou Covent Garden market of £lO 15/6 for 21 cases of peaches exported to Great Britain from Roxburgh in April last by Mr. W. J. Manuei, of Coal Creek, may be regarded as conclusive evidence that stone fruit can be successfully transported to the other side of the world and, on arrival, sold at highly remunerative prices. The net return from the market was £9 1/7, but with the exchange added the grower received at Roxburgh £ll 6/5, or an average of 10/9J a case. Each case contained approximately 55 peaches, and was packed under the supervision of a Government grader, Mr. Frew. The fruit was part of an experimental consignment shipped by the Port Dunedin, which arrived in London on May 22. It was subject to examination and trial by officers of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and cases not needed for purposes of experiment were sent to Covent Garden market and sold with tho result already stated. This is understood to bo the first shipment of peaches from New Zealand to London, and the fact that the experiment has met with such remarkable success should be of great interest to growers of stone fruit. If stone fruit can be landed in London in June in sound condition it should be an extremely profitable form of export, as at that time of tho year in England peaches are sold retail at fancy prices. As much as 2/6 and 3/6 each is asked for them in London. A detailed report on the experiment will be made later, but the highly satisfactory prices secured for the fruit that was sold would indicate that it arrived in a condition attractive to the London trade.