ROTTEN FRUIT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14222, 19 November 1906, Page 9

ROTTEN FRUIT.

TO THE EDITOR, I Sir, —Your correspondent, “ Queens-1 lander,” writing on the above question, in answer to ray previous letter, is, to. me, interesting, if not amusing. My letter apparently was amusing to him. as he states : “ Had the letter appeared in a Brisbane paper it- would have set all Queensland laughing.” What a ' large circulation the Brisbane paper must have ? Your correspondent states " That ho has lived in a banana country many years, and has a little knowledge of the fruit in question.” I quite agree with him on that point, but he should ,-boar in mind that a "little knowledge” is a dangerous thing. A monkey may have lived in a cocoanut grove all its life, and may still bo wondering how the milk got inside. Mow, will your correspondent, in all fairness, ask himself this question: “ How many times are the cases handled before they reach the retailers’ shops? The numerous times would, no doubt, surprise him. Then, could ho reasonably expect them to be placed before the public without spot or blemish? In regard to the black skins, I was' reading a few years ago an extract from the Board of Trade (British) annual report. There it mentioned the phenomenal increase of the importation of bananas from Jamaica during the past five years. Commenting thereon, it stated that, owing to the high price, they had not become a common article of food amongst the lower classes. Furtbo? i

comments :—“ The banana is at its best when the skin is thoroughly blackened. but it 5i seldom scon on the tablets of the well-to-do classes in this condition, owing to its colour being objectionable.” Now, which of these two authorities am I to choose, British or rour correspondents?—l am, etc., MUSA. P.S.—I am not a retailer of fruit.