PASSION FRUIT CROP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21131, 14 March 1932, Page 5

PASSION FRUIT CROP.

INDUSTRY AT KERIKERI. DELAY IN MAKING PAYMENTS. COMPANY'S POSITION EXPLAINED. The progress of the" passion fruit industry at Kerikeri, North Auckland, has received a check this season owing to the failure of the company disposing of the fruit to maintain its payments to settlers, according to a letter from a correspondent. Inquiries in Auckland show that there has been a delay in making payments, which it is hoped will be only temporary. "The description of the prosperity of Kerikeri as it appeared in the Hebald on 'March 9 was quite correct on the day it was written, but it arrived here at a time when the settlement was plunged in gloom because T-he company, purchasing the fruit has fallen down on the purchase contract," wrote the correspondent. "The settlers have so far received not one penny for the fruit delivered, worth nearly £IOOO, and the rest of the crop is lying on the ground spoiling because there is no time to make adequata arrangements to market it. "The settlers are in despair, with the prospect of receiving nothing at all for the year's work as well as no return on their capital investment. A portion of the fruit is being disposed of in small lots. "The enterprise is handicapped by lack of a developed market sufficiently big to take the large output now being produced. Prospective overseas markets are in the offing, but there is no time to develop them to save even a part of this year's crop." The position of Passion Fruit Plantations, Ltd., the Auckland company interested in the Kerikeri settlement, was explained last evening by Mr. F. Ford, a director, who staled that the company was at present installing machinery In Auckland to extract the pulp and juice from the fruit. It had contracted with a company in Wellington to handle the fruit tnroughout New Zealand, but a hitch had occurred. Settlers had received one pay-out, but there had been a delay and Passion Fruit Plantations, Ltd., could do nothing until the position of the Wellington company had been made clear. His company was hastening with tha completion of the plant in Auckland, which had not been hurried after a contract had been made with the Wellington company. The delav would be only temporary, and settlers would ultimately receive their pavments, while it was hoped to deal with the rest of the crop very shortly, concluded Mr. Ford.