SHARP CONTRAST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23088, 13 July 1938, Page 16

SHARP CONTRAST

METHODS OF CONTROL ONIONS AND ORANGES THE CITRUS CINDERELLA t ! ATTITUDES OF PRODUCERS 3 A marked contrast in the - economic > : circumstances of the onion and citrus * | fruit industries of New Zealand is ■ j provided by official statements relating |to marketing which appeared in the 1 Herai,i) yesterday, I | The .Minister of Marketing, the Hon. i | W. Nash, announced that to relieve the » | shortage,of onions in the Auckland pro- | vince, where prices have begun to soar, , j the Government, acting on the recomi j mondation of the Onion Marketing Adj visory Committee, had authorised the , ; importation of supplies from Victoria. , j In regard to oranges the Director of Internal Marketing, Mr. F. ft. Picot, confirmed the * information that imported oranges were being sold without, reserve to speed up consumption and avoid loss through deterioration of the fruit. On the one hand onion growers, through strict control of importation, have been receiving very profitable returns for the last of a crop that had ■long been harvested; on the other, the citrus fruit growers, notably those specialising in the poorman orange, have seen their profits vanish owing to the heavy importation of citrus fruits by the Internal Marketing Department and anticipate an even worse market during the remainder of their season because of the glut of sweet oranges. "Cheap Oranges—at any Price" "The State policy in regard to oranges," said one local grower, "may be interpreted as 'cheap oranges —at any price.' The director is confident that with an average taken over the whole Cook Islands import operations, no loss will be suffered, but even if ho J is correct, that is small comfort to the local growers whose loss is staring them in the face." A prominent onion grower expressed his satisfaction with the returns for the season and generally with the operation of the import control system, and said that it might bo copied with advantage in the citrus industry, which ought to bo nurtured and developed. "1 realise that the two industries are not precisely comparable seeing that onions are onions while there are several distinct varieties of citrus fruit. But even so the marckt for the local grapefruit and lemon is affected by excessive importations of sweet oranges and to some extent by the incoming of [ Californian grapefruit. "Although in the aggregate the onion season has been quite satisfactory to us, we had a period of reverse which gave us no little anxiety. About this time last year the Government, acting on the advice of the advisory committee, gave authority to import to fill the gap in supplies between the old crop and the new, which starts to arrive in November. No quantity was mentioned by the committee, but the actual importation -was about 2300 tons. Unfortunately, the bulk of the overseas supply came in with a rush and the consequence was that the first of the new crop met a market that was depressed by this import accumulation. Onion Control System "This year, I understand, the advisory committee, or some of its members, will recommend a rationing system of import to avoid gluts as well as acute shortages. I imagine the Government will accept this view, and spread the imports as far as shipping arrangements will allow." On the Onion Marketing Advisory Committee growers, merchants and the Government are represented and the speaker placed emphasis upon the fact that through Mr. ft. Browne Tennent, tli© Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture shares directly in the decisions upon which the committee offers its advice to the department. "If the citrus fruit growers are to be protected against the import activities of the Internal Marketing Department, which might be ruinous to them," he said, "there should be some advisory body, representing all interests, the Government to bo represented bv, say, the head of the Horticulture Division of the Department of Agriculture, to ensure that the first claims of the industry are kept prominently before those who make final decisions as to importation. Recommendations by a committee so constituted would certainly have prevented the importation the other day of 950 cases of Californian grapefruit. Official marketing must dove-tail in with local industry when' the imported article is competitive. ]f it does not do so it will merely reproduce the trouble of the past." Plight of Citrus Growers

Tho plight of the growers of poorman oranges is being widely discussed. There is a. body of disinterested opinion in favour of tho Government providing a financial guarantee for the present crop, seeing that tho import operations of the internal Marketing Department are largely responsible for the collapse of their market. "The very least the Government should do," said one man, "is to use immediately all its publicity resources to make the people aware that the poorman orange has now reached tho stage of maturity when it is of firstclass value as a breakfast food, that in this condition it is quite as valuable as Californian grapefruit' and that tho juice, squeezed out and drunk, is extremely palatable. Many people, particularly in tho south, regard the poorman orange only as a marmalade fruit, not realising that from July on the amount of juice increases, tho sugar content becomes higher and tho bitter flavour of the immature fruit largely disappears. The growers deserve every official help to increase tho consumption of thoir product, which is a greater asset to the country than is commonly realised."