FRUIT INQUIRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22435, 3 June 1936, Page 14

FRUIT INQUIRY

FURTHER EVIDENCE

PLANTER ALLEGES COMBINE DENIAL BY AN IMPORTER [by telegraph—OWN correspondent] WELLINGTON, Tuesday The hearing of evidence on the two petitions, one for guaranteed minimum prices for oranges, bananas and tomatoes from tho Cook Islands, and the other for the formation of a fruit control board, was continued by tho Industries and Commerce Committee of the llouso of Representatives to-day. Tho inquiry is expected to conclude either to-morrow or on Thursday. Mr. Arumnki Strickland, a grower and the secretary of the Cook Islands Native Association, said tho price he received for his fruit sometimes did not cover the cost of cutting and packing. He urged the sotting up of a fruit control board, which would place the produce from the Islands on the open market. Mr. G. H. Cunningham, of tho Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, said that with proper care of trees and control of temperature and humidity after the produce had been packed there was no reason why the Cook Islands should not export satisfactory fruit* Natives and Trading Firms

Mr. Robert McKegg, representing the Rarotonga Fruit Exporters' Association. said that had it not been for tho advances made 'year by year to the growers by the trading firms, the fruit industry would have been practically non-existent. Mr. C. R. Petrie: Is anybody in the Islands exploiting the natives? Mr. McKegg: I don't know of anybody. I think competition is too keen for that.

"Wo are not looking for a scapegoat," said Mr. Petrie. "We are looknig for a solution of the problem. The natives are seeking control—from whom or against what? They want protection. Somebody is getting more out of them than they want to give." Mr. McKegg: Their viewpoint might be wrong. Mr. Petrie said that was what the committee was trying to find out. What was wrong? Mr. McKegg said that what he considered was wrong was the quality of the fruit that was being shipped. After wharfage and other charges had been paid on top of the purchase price 30 per cent of the fruit was bad, and it wag double the landed cost. Mr. Duncan Munro, a planter, said that there were thousands of trees at llarotohga that would produce good fruit if they were properly manured, sprayed and pruned. Unfortunately for the planter, a combine had a monopoly in the Islands. He himself had found that he could not obtain space from the Union Steam Ship Company for his fruit unless he sold to the traders at their own price. Mr. J. A. Grimwood, of the Union Steam Ship Company, said that if space requirements were above the vessel's capacity, then space was allotted pro rata among all applicants on the basis of their shipments during the previous years. This procedure was generally recognised as most satisfactory to all concerned. In view of the withdrawal of the San Francisco mail service at the end of the year, the Union Steam Ship Company was considering arrangements for its new cold storage vessel Matua to make regular calls at Parotonga, with seasonal calls at the outer islands of the group, but her itinerary had not yet been definitely fixed. Mr. E. G. Robertson, a director of Market Gardens, Limited, fruit and produce auctioneers, of Wellington, denied that a fruit "ring" existed. /" The committee adjourned at 5.30 p.m. until 10 a.m. to-morrow.