FRUIT EXPORT PRICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22615, 31 December 1936, Page 13

FRUIT EXPORT PRICE

Sir, —Re the report in your issue of December 26 of a statement by the Hon. W. Leo Martin with reference to the fruitgrowing industry, I wish to state that a gross injustice is in store for this struggling section of primary producers. A State guarantee of 10s 6d per case (New Zealand currency) of fruit for export has been approved by Cabinet. At first sight this seems reasonable, but it would be as well for the general public to be made aware of facts that the Minister of Agriculture must be fully cognisant of. To qualify for this guarantee a grower must incur expenses of from 9s to 9s 6d per case, according to locality —thus assuring to the grower, with cost of cases nearly doubled, probably not more than Is per case under the best conditions. I might add the above costs are fixed and unalterable. Out of this Is per case the. grower now lias to pay wages up to £4 per week, or ill per week more than in a favoured primary industry, whose whole production is entirely State-guaranteed and State-paid. If X' 3 per week is fair for those employed in a Government-eon-trolled industry—admittedly working longer hours—how in the name of all that is right and reasonable can the Government explain such an iniquitous imposition on the earnestly striving fruitgrower, who usually expects an eight-hour day only. Out of his Is per case the grower also has to manure, cultivate and spray efficiently. One can readily imagine how much is left over for his own family for the necessities of life. Reasonable remuneration for his own work is too much to hope for. Nor is this all. Export does not represent more than half the crop. One used to be lucky to be able to export 50 per ceut, but now, with Delicious troubles, the percentage is considerably reduced, and the grower is still faced with the necessity of disposing of the remainder of his crop on the local market, with no guarantee that this portion will even pay expenses. The Minister is reported to have said that the true economic position of the fruitgrowers is not so clearly defined as in other branches of primary production, and units must cooperate to supply the necessary information. To my certain knowledge actual working costs over the past two years have been freely available to the Export Control Board and to the Department of Agriculture for months past, and these clearly indicated the stark impossibility of standing up to this last blow —in comparison with which the cyclone of last February was a zephyr. The Minister has omitted one vital point—how the extra wages are to be paid. Perhaps the report also omitted the Government's decision to pay the difference. As it stands at present. truly the Hon. T>e Martin's Christmas message to New Zealand fruitgrowers, if enforced, will throw hundreds out of employment, and will undoubtedly break the industry. Gboweb.