ALLEGED FRUIT RING AT CHRISTCHURCH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, 5 February 1909, Page 2

ALLEGED FRUIT RING AT CHRISTCHURCH.

A PBNIAL BY AUOriOKFiEHS ' . AND FRUITERERS, A representative of the "Press" saw several rcpresntative ffmt auctioneer with rcforoncc to the allegations made at a meeting of the Canterbury Frtiitgiowefa' Association on Saturday night, whicll Wre, briefly, that a ring existed in the local fruit trade,- that the operations of the riilg {^judicially affegted growers, that fruiterers arranged th« P'j^ 8 that they would give for fruit, £H#£ one fruiterer bought for a number of other fruiterers, that no fruiterer bid beyond tho pfico agreed upb'n, and that the bids of pepple nflt connected with tho trade were rejected, ev'Sii though they wero higher than those made by tho trade. It was inferred that tho consumer also suffered, and it was alleged that the establishment of municipal markets was tho only soldtidn of the difficulty. Tho friiit auctioneers seen by the teportei' denied that Mf fftiit ring existed. Tho domplaints mado By. the Fruitgrowers' Assofiiatidn wefg made annualljr"; they tad been replied to, and the aiic'tione'eis had nothing to add to their previous feflf. AS ta their action in declining the bids of persons not connected with the trade, they had advice of auch a character that they were satisfied that they wero asting within their legal rights in what thay Wfite doing. Tho only people barred frofll bidding at auction wero thoso who purchased fof tlieif own consumption. In addition to fruiterers, hotel-keepers, storekeepers, and jam manufacturers could bid at auction. Others could buy at the auction rooms alter the sale at prices mutually agreed upon. In one of the auction rooms tho reporter met two fruiterers, Messrs Knox and Williamson, who also gave theft opinions on the allegations of the Fruitgrowers' Association. Both denied tbat a "ting" properly socalled existed in the fmit trade, nor was tkero any arrangement where'tlnder prices were fixed by the fruiterers and no bids given beyond such prices —whoever offered the highest price got. the fruit. "How would it be possible to get 2s 8d per lb for strawberries if such an arrangement existed?" they asked. Even supposing thata the allegations made were true, there was nothing to prevent the growers opening a shop of their own and giving thfl public the benefit of cheap fruit. Aa a matter of fact, the growers had made an experiment of dealing direct with the consumer in wholesale and retail lots; but the^ experiment had been disastrous, or at any rate not successful enough to warrant its continuance. Another < fact was that about forty per cent. of the fruiterers were also growers; and one of tbe fruiterers interviewed remarkd that ho himself had made more money as a grower than as a retailer. They agreed, however, that the present season wa9 not the most favourable possible for tho local grower. The Central Otago crops were the largest ever, known, and the Hawke's Bay crop was al?o a large one; furthermore, thero were many men out of employment just now, and the purchasing power of the people' was not so great as in former years. "Half the fruiterers in Christchurch at present," said Mr Williamson, "are working purely for their landlords." "It would be impossible to form a ring in fruit," added Mr Knox. "If I bought all that was offering to-day there would be a fresh lot in to-morrow, and ono would require to have the Bank of New Zealand at one's back to keep on buying." The opinion of both fruiterers was that imported fruit was the "backbone' of the fruiterers' trade, and it was hardly worth while bothering about local fruit. Imported fruit was more reliabily packed and gradod, but with local fruit the buyer did not know what ho was buying. If he were buying American apples, for instance, he would have one case opened, and, if satisfied, and he wanted a quantity, he could take any number of cases well knowing that the cases he had not opened were up to the standard of the case he had opened. Mr Williamson qualified the statement, however, by stating that some of the local growers could be relied upon as to grading and packing. The difference between Christchurch and Wellington as regards the fruit trade was pointed out by Mr Williamson, who said that in Wellington people had not the same extent of land as Christchurch people had. In Christchurch almost every householder had a garden patch with a fruit tree or two. When the local growers of fruit came on the market it wa9 at a time when nearly everyone had fruit of a similar kind of his own, and, consequently, the fruiterers could not do much business.