FRUIT FOR BRITAIN

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 163, 11 June 1926, Page 7

FRUIT FOR BRITAIN

SUPPLIES FROM ABROAD.

GREAT SCOPE FOR INCREASE,

AN IMPORTANT REPORT. (By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) LONDON, June 9. The Imperial Economic Committee’s fruit report, which has been issued, draws attention to the fact that £48,600,000 worth of fruit was imported into the United Kingdom in 1924, yet the consumption of fruit per" head was still much smaller than in the United States. Over three-quar-ters of the fruit imports of the United Kingdom are foreign. There is great scope, says the report, for an increase in the importation from the Empire by an increase in' consumption, and the transference of custom to the Empire. The committee deliberately declares its conviction that the greater part of the fruit now derived from foreign countries, except grapes and oranges for winter consumption, might at no very distant date bo obtained from British sources.

The result would be a corresponding growth of overseas markets for manufacturers owing to_the development of important districts of the Empire suitable for the production of fruit. "While the foreign which principally supply the United Kingdom wth fruit bought from the United Kingdom goods valued at from 7s to 17s per head of their population, the Empire countries which sent fruit to the United Kingdom bought from £3 to £l7 per head. " OUTSTANDING FACTS.

The three outstanding facts of the present position are as follow: (1) In regard to the number of fruits, of which apples are the most important, the United Kingdom market is dominated by the fluctuating overspill from the vast production of the United States.

(2) Fresh fruit from the Southern Dominions comes on the United Kingdom market at a time when the market is relatively bare of other supplies, but dried fruit is exposed to the competition of low-wage countries. (3) The most important fruit of the tropical colonies of the East and West Atlantic is the banana, and at present the supply of bananas to the United Kingdom, except from the Canaries, is monopolised by an organisation subject to American control. The committee considered three policies with a view to defending and developing the fruit industries of the Empire. They are unable to recommend schemes for embargo and license owing to the limitations imposed bv the “most-favoured-nation” clauses of various treaties. The policy of Customs preferences, according to the decision of the Imperial Conference of 1923, does not obme within the purview of the committee. Thus the only policy which seems to be immediately available is the policy of developing a voluntary preference on the part of the consumer, based on the organisation of Empire producers and the mobilisation of United Kingdom consumers.

PRODUCERS’ ORGANISATIONS. The committee considers the representation of the Empire producers’ organisations in the United Kingdom as pivotal of the whole scheme of Empire marketing. The organisation of overseas producers’ interests in the United Kingdom should be watched by an efficient agent of the organisation, and the agent should also keep producers informed of ' the requirements of tho market. The report points out that the system of identification of origin carried with it the liability of loss as well as gain of goodwill. Tho committee concludes: “Under the present system the average cost of distributing imported fresh fruit within the United Kingdom about equals tho whole cost of growing, carrying and handling up to and including the primary sale in the United Kingdom. This matter should be dealt with by tho Food Council. It is of great importance to tho United Kingdom consumer and the overseas produced that there should be a mobilisation of consumers. Wo must depend on providing such indications of origin that the consumer may have a means of exercising a voluntary preference and on educative publicity, leading him to see that it is his own business interest, apart from all sentiment, to buy from his own best customers. PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN.

In regard to research the report stresses the need for'economic as well as scientific investigation, and says: “There are at present difficulties in the way of financing the transport of fruit owing to possible deterioration during transit and storage. If necessary we should ascertain and reduce these risks, which must be covered by insurance. The financing of fruit can be carried on as easily as the financing of less perishable commodities. The executive commission which it is proposed should be established will organise and operate a campaign of educative publicity. < lt seems desirable that the commission should have the advantage of the ad- • vice of sub-committees organised on a commodity basis, though the actual publicity will doubtless lie supervised by a committee consisting partly of experienced men. “The commission will provide an intelligence service in order obtain the best information regarding forthcoming supplies as the basis of. publicity, and promptly inform Empire producers regarding competing supplies. It will undertake the direction, co-ordination and assistance of research at Home and overseas, acting through a research committee in order to en- ( sure tho due influence of scientific ex- • perts and avoid the overlapping of experts’ efforts. It will carry out eco-. nomic as well as scientific research' by. the collection of data with regard to tho deterioration of fruit in transit and similar problems. The commission will include the interests of the home producer as far as its functions are applicable to his case. If it is decided that the Imperial Ecoonmic Commit- c tee shall continue to exist for the pur--pose of, advising Empire Governments, it will be necessary to consider the relations of the commission toward the committee, but tho commission might be charged with the duty of experiment on behalf of the committee in cases where larger schemes are deferred pending the results of preliminary action.’’ ORGANISATIQN NEEDED.

The report emphasises that organisation alone will not ,6uffice to combat the advantage conferred on the United States by its great protected home market. It strongly supports the closer organisation of fruitgrowers, and insists upon grading and packing standards being strictly maintained at the point of export, recommending the Governments to assist financially and otherwise to that end.—A. and N.Z. cable.