THE FRUIT DUTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1853, 27 May 1887, Page 14

THE FRUIT DUTY.

The following communication, signed by 63 firms interested in the fruit trade, was forwarded on Saturday night from Dunedin to the Colonial Secretary: —

Sir, — On behalf of [the associated fruit dealers of Dunedin, we have the honour to respectfully draw your attention to the following objections to the proposed duty on fruit : — The consumption of fruit is strictly conditioned by its price. The rich will of course use it as a luxury, whatever the cost, but the working and middle classes, who now consume three-fourths of all the fruit' in the market, simply cease to buy when the price goes beyond a certain point, and the imposition of any duty, however small, will raise it beyond, that point.

As a matter of fact, very little is imported during the four months of the New Zealand season. The total value of all the green fruit imported last year was about £60,000, and if from this be deducted what is brought in during the eight months when no locally-grown fruit is procurable, it will be found that the quantity introduced during the four months when it would compete with the local article is absolutely infinitesimal.

Indeed such importations merely represent the extent to which the local supply is unequal to the demand. We readily take all the local fruit in the market, and are compelled to import the deficiency. As soon as the local supply is equal to the demand, so soon will importations cease. The duty, therefore, is not needed for the encouragement of the home grower, and will merely prohibit its general use,

In this connection we might mention that some of us are now sending weekly supplies of imported fruit to Teviot, Naseby, Lawrence, and other fruit-growing districts, and this simply because their fruit season is over.

In support of our statement that the local grower does not need the duty by way.of protection, we would draw your attention to the fact that he is already protected to the extent of 75 per cent. ; for whereas the average cost of green fruit is 4s per case of 401b, the freight and charges on the imported article average 2s per case — that is 50 per cent. ; and in addition to this, there is an average loss of 25 per cent, by decay in transit.

We would further point out that the duty will operate very harshly. It is imposed on the full invoice weight at port of shipment, and as on the average 25 per cent, is lost by decay in transit, the actual duty paid on the fruit that comes to hand would thus be 25 per cent, more than the nominal duty.

Many of us are retailers in a small way of business, and all of us have office and trade expenses to pay. Trade is dull, and profits are precarious at best, and convinced as we are that the imposition of any duty at all would put fruit out of the reach of our chief customers and keep our shops empty for eight months in the year, we earnestly trust that the Government will not, for the sake of the trifling amount of revenue involved (and as imports will be killed the revenue must be nominal), impose a tax unnecessary for protective purposes and ruinous to us ; and one, moreover, that for eight months out of the 12 makes fruit unattainable, and all the year through puts it beyond the reach of the bulk of the community. — We have, &c, Walter Bull, And the 63 firms whose signatures are annexed.