OTAGO-GROWN FRUIT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18998, 20 October 1923, Page 7

OTAGO-GROWN FRUIT.

MARKETING CONDITIONS AT CO YE NT GARDEN. AN OUT-OF-DATE SYSTEM. SOME INTERESTING COMMENTS. Mr T. B. Phillips, manager of the Otago Central Li uiuaml.-s, wiio bus just rctuiTieU liom a trip 10 jvnglaml, look Ihe oppjrtuudy while at Homo ot malting a special Miitly ot Ute iruil trade, more particularly as ivgards the disposal ot New Zealand Irnit. air Phillips went Home on the iluaJnne, winch sailed lent .New Zealand iit .April lust, ana which carried a shipment, eu Utago-growu apples aim pears tile lirst oi the season. ane Innl arrived iu England m the second week of June, and was sent to various merchants at Covent Garden. Doth the apples and pears arrived m perlect conditton. The apples earned so well that the Cox’s Orange pippins were kept in ordinary storage in England 'until me .middle ot August and were then quite, sound and crisp, and as good eating as tlie dav they were picked. At the nine the apples arrived by the Ruahme there was a considerable quantity ot Australian and lasmaniian apples on tno market, but this notwithstanding the Otago apples sold well, and m most cases realised higher prices limn the similar varieties of Australian, .everywhere oh the market one heard only favourable comments ot the high quality and condition of the Otago fruit. The fruit was mostly sold by private treaty although some ot it was auctioned. Mr f’hilhps went on to say that ho was-' astonished ui the lack ot marketing facilities in Covent Garden. Covent Garden was the distributing centre ot Great Britain for fruit and vegetables, and one would Juivo thought that the marketing system and the facilities for handling would have been on the most up-to-date lines. Tiie facilities, however, were wholly inadequate lo deal eilicieiilly with the amount ot produce handled. In no other market in Britain was the congestion so acute. Tho narrow streets and alleys, small yards, etc., I iirough w hich the vehicles oi some of tile leading firms had to carry the, fruit or used great congestion, in view of the very large amount of business liansacUU. •■lt was surprising the number of poky little cellars and basements iu use for storing fruit —some ot them so inaccessible as to necessitate considerable expenditure for labour in handling the cases. There was quite an iumy ot men constantly employed loading and unloading trucks and carrying the fruit considerable distances. The fruit had also often lo bo carried up and down flights of steps. 'These costly and rough methods of handling had, of course, to bo paid for by the producer. 'J he system, taking it generally, was antiquated. Those responsible for the continuation of the present marketing conditions at Covent Garden should certainly lake steps at once to. improve the very unsatisfactory state of affairs. .Treasure should bo brought frpm every possible source to have improvements made. Granted that the difficulties to be overcome wore very great, and that it would require a considerable amount of thought and expense lo remove them, still the sooner they were tackled on a scale commensurate with the volume of business clone the better it would be for the New Zealand and other oversea fruitgrowers.

Dealing with the sale of the fruit, Mr I’hillips said that fruit consigned to Covent Garden might pass through the hands ot sveeral linns beiore reaching the consumer. The iruit was first received in large quantities by the commission salesmen. These sold m large lots to the wholesalers. The wholesalers, in turn, otteu sold to commission buyers who passed their purchases on to ■ provisional wholesalers. The last named might sell to another small wholesaler, and ho to the retailer, and finally the Iruit would bo purchased by the consumer. Each of these intermediaries took a quota oi Ins commission or profit, and there was in addition the cost ot handling and transporting the fruit as it passed through the different channels on its way to the consumer. At each stage the fruit might be handled two or three times, and-in some instances it would be handled 16 to £0 times before it reached the consumer. Homo commission salesmen sold a tremendous quantify of produce in a day and it seemed to be their sole business to move the produce off their hands in wholesale, lots as quickly as possible,, quite irrespective of tile condition of the market or of the prices prevailing. Of course the commission salesmen at times received: such largo quantities of perishable produce that it was imperative that each day’s consignments should be moved, otherwise the congestion would become very bad indeed. One often heard of a certain practice indulged in by the Covent Garden merchants. Tins was to return to all consignors the tame price for any one quality ot produce, sold the same day or from one district, instead of the actual price realised by each consignment. Then, again, it was stated taut commission salesmen, when prices were rising, sometimes bought and sold on their own account. Mr i’hillips said he considered that the method of making up account sales by the Covent Garden commission agents could be made very much clearer, and thus enable the sellar to discover how the costs were incurred. At the present time charges such as landing, market toll, warehouse charges, sorting, cartage, porterage, delivery, etc., were lumped together, and the seller was given no opportunity of finding out the respective costs. Mr Phillips suggested that if might bo advisable to appoint an independent auditor in London to go through Ibe account sales on behalf of the New Zealand shippers, and thus obtain a greater insight info marketing charges, and also discover whether shippers received the actual price brought by their produce, or only the average price, and whether the commission salesmen were speculating in the goods they were actually handling. Referring to the shipment of Otago fruit by the Ruahine, Mr Phillips said that improvements could be made in the stacking of the fruit on the steamer. The practice adopted of placing lathes between cadi layer of cases to enable the air to circulate was an excellent one. The method, however. of placing the lathes near the centre of. fhe cases was not a good plan, as the weight of the top layers caused the cases to "belly,” and the result was that the apples in the lower cases were taking a large weight, and naturally were considerably bruised. If the lathes were laid on at the ends of the cases, which were the only part made to carry weight, the fruit would arrive in London in very much bettor condition.

Then, again, there appeared to be a greet deal of misconception regarding' die correct temperature at which apples and pear.- should be curried. Some of mo n f rigeral ing engineers appeared to con suler that a temperature even as low as that at which meal was curried would not seriously affect apples, and were inclined io err on the side of a too low temperature. In one case Mr Phillips stated that he actually saw several cases of apples and pears opened up in Covent Garden in which the fruit in the centre had a coating of ice, and this, too, after it had been two days off the shin. In another shipment tile apples were in far better condition, proving that a higher temperature was the one to he used in the carriage of apples and pears. Mr Phillips said (hat an invidious position was in evidence ns regarded the payment of bonuses la ships’ officers. Under the existing arrangement the captain ami the chief engineer received bonuses if the refuge-rated cargo arrived in good condition, but the refrigerating engineer, who Lore all the responsibility of (his work, received nothing, Mr Phillips reiterated his statement that a most important factor in the transport of the New Zealand iruir, was to make absolutely sure that a correct, temperature was observed. Fruit going on the London market in u frosted con dition had a very bad effect on the general overseas fruit market. One of (he drawbacks which New Zealand apples and pears suffered from w.-us the rough handling of the cases. Tins caused the fruit to be bruised, and naturally affected its market value. If the retailers at Home could receive some sort of a guarantee that the New Zealand fruit the’/ purchased was largely free from bruisis they would he quite prepared to pay a proper price for it. Under the existing system of purchase the Home retailers always made provision in their quotations for a proportion of damaged fruit per case. There was no doubt some steps would have to he talmn to have the cases more carefuly handled. Mr Piiillios concluded bv saying that he' had no fears for the future prospects of. t ! 'e export fruit trade from Ota/go provided the growers maintained their present high standard of grading, and tried --o further improve on their ■ systems of handling. There was an assured market for high quality Otago fruit, and it would alwavs be able to hold its own with im pnrtntlous from other countries. Mr Phillips's final remark was that ne was certainly not enamoured of the marketing conditions at Covent Garden.