EARLIER THAN USUAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26478, 4 June 1947, Page 6

EARLIER THAN USUAL

PROSPECTS FOR FUTURE “Although the shipment of Australian oranges is earlier this year than usual, the trade is concerned because the Waitaki is going into dock after her discharge here, and this will probably counteract any time gained by the first early shipment,” said a representative of the wholesale fruit trade in Dunedin in an interview with the Daily Times last night, commenting on a report that the Waitaki was bringing to the South Island an early consignment of Australian navel oranges. He said that the portion of the shipment for Dunedin totalled 3000 cases, which would not find their way to fruit marts before Friday. The usual shipment of Australian oranges to Dunedin before the war was about 4000 to 5000 cases, each, containing one and one-third bushels, and the Waitaki arrived every three weeks to the day. The cases now received contained only a bushel, and the number of cases was smaller. Oranges were received in May in pre-war years. ‘ Two shipments had been'lost last season owing to delays to the turn-round of the Waitaki. “It was hoped that the normal six shipments would be received from Australia this season, but unless another ship is put on the run to Australia while the Waitaki is in dock, which probably* will be for some weeks, this hope will not be realised, * he'added. . , . “Fruit distributors in New Zealand would like to know why Australian mandarins, which are cheap and plentiful in the Commonwealth, are not available in this country,” he added. « Children of four or five years to-day do not know what a mandarin is. as this fruit was declared a luxury line several years ago.” Before the war. he continued, many thousands of cases reached the Dunedin market from Sydney and Melbourne at regular intervals. Both the orange and mandarin crops were reported to be good in Australia this year.