THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8982, 13 September 1892, Page 5

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

[BY telegraph.—special correspondent.!

Wellington, Monday The secretary of the Canterbury Agricultural Association, Mr. Murphy, who is at present in Wellington, says that a remunerative export trade can be done if fruit reaches the London market in good condition. Decay sets in whenever fruit is packed together in very large quantities, as it cannot on that account obtain the advantages of a current of air, unsoundness therefore following as a matter of course in consequence of the gases which are generated. The best method of exporting, 'he believes, is to store a small quantity only in the hold of a vessel where there would be sufficient ventilation. Fruit sent in that way generally reaches the English market in good condition, and has realised as much as 25s per case, but when a great quantity is stowed in the cooling chamber without air, it is almost certain that the fruit, when it reaches England, will be in bad condition. At a conference lately held in Tasmania it was suggested that the Governments of Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania should charter a vessel to send fruit to London in properly ventilated chambers. Mr. Murphy thinks that something in the same direction might well be done by the New Zealand Government. According to him some of the finest apples grown in the world are at the present time in Canterbury, but cannot be sold as the market is swamped with apples imported from Tasmania. He believes, therefore, that a higher import duty might well be levied on Taemanian fruit. Under present circumstances it costs mere to send apples from Christchurch to Dunedin than it does to import them from Tasmania to Lyttelton.