Denies Poisonous Injections Ever Used For Kerikeri Oranges

Northern Advocate, 23 August 1945, Page 2

Denies Poisonous Injections Ever Used For Kerikeri Oranges

A denial that any Kerikeri oranges have ever been treated with injections, poisonous or otherwise, has been made by the secretary of the Kerikeri Citrus Society (Mr B. W. Black), following the erroneous police warning that a quantity of navel oranges stolen from an orchard at Kerikeri were believed to contain deadly poisonous injections of nicotine sulphate. Mr Black said that, although the police had later acknowledged that the warning had been based on information which had no foundation in fact, considerable damage had already been done to the reputation of Kerikeri oranges. This harm might be reflected in pecuniary loss to growers in the district. The Government orchard instructor had estimated the Kerikeri orange crop for 1945 at 18,000 bushels, added Mr Black .A good proportion of this year’s crop had already been marketed, but thousands of cases had yet to be sold. A young and growing industry could not afford to receive a setback such as that caused by the publication of the police warning.