The Teviot fruit Trade. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1934, 19 March 1891, Page 17

The Teviot fruit Trade. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — Our nttention has been drawn to a paragraph in the Roxburgh correspondence of the l'ua peka Times, which reads, " On every hand one hears complaints agiiust the ohirges of Dunedin co 'irnisslon Hgetits, who do not forget to exact their poucd of flesh lor services rendered." Since our firm has been entrusted with the graiter portion of ths Teviot fruit, the remark prob.tbly applies to us i . common with other agents, and we sh ill bs gtad if you will give us m opportunity of rep'ying t:> it. Firstly, 'we may say tbat tbe rate of coLumus-on which the Teviot fruitgrowers are charged ia the otic which has bsen agreed up n by the trade throughout the colonies. It consequently has the supp irt of trade usage, aud it goes without saying that firms •*uoh as Messrs Griffiths, of Sydne}', for whom we have the honour of acting ai sole agents hern, and whose shipments are very much larger tkan tbe whole of the Teviot fruitgrowers combined, would not be likely to pay this commission unless they deemed it reasonable. However, tbat the matter may be freely discussed, we shall, with your couient, go somewhat into details. Boughly speaking, the average value of a oaie of fruit, whether Teviot or imported, U 6s Bd. Our commission at 7i per oeut. is 6d. Now with Teviot, and indeed all local fruit, owing to imperfeot description of contents, it is absolutely imperative to open every case, whereas with imported fruits brands oan, as a rule, be implicitly reMed upon, *nd

the opening of one case suffices for a line. The difference in labour between the two will bn easily understood, and when we mention that thd averagd number of cases taken by each purchaser is only two, we think it will ncarcoly be contouded that tho charge is excessive, especially when it is b-rnein. mind that it incudes guarantee, which is no trifling consideration, seeing that during the last lew weeks no fewer than four fruiterers havu baen unabla to meet their engagements, thus involving agents in severe loss. It must also be remembered that In agency business a greit amount of clorlc.U work is necessary, and when we mention that the expen-es of our firm, even with mo3t rigliliy economical managem<>nt' average £30 weekly it will be seen that a very large amount of produce must pass through our hands baforo we pay bare expenses. Tho correspondent to whom we refer states that p; ices roi'ised by growers are not within 25 per cent of thoso of la?t year. He apparently overlooks the fact that owing to the very heavy crop the market this year has been completely glutted. We do not for a moment wl?h to take "more credit to oursolves than we are entitled to, but wo certainly do think we are within the mark in saying that had the grawers come do-vn as Usual fc,o sell their fruit, more than oue half of It would hive been wasted. As it was, notwithstanding our large con>neotion amongst the trade, wo could only dlipore of tho enormous quantities received by holding daily auctions, aud even then the difficulty we experienced can bo understood when we mention tbat Mr Lorio has often boen tlirea and four hours in the rostrum before he could gat rid of all the fruit entrusted to us. The plau which 13 suggested for saving our commission -of growers opening shops— has already received a trial, and we know if the expenses were admitted they would prove greatly in excess of 7J per cent., to say nothing of the worry and risk involved. Qf course we have taken up the cudgels solely on our own behalf. For aught we know other agents' charges may he heavier than our own, which wo thlukit will be admitted are only fair and reasonable, slnc9the 7$ per cent, covers every charge, excepting, of course, the charge for delivery.— Yours &0., Lobib and Boy. P S.— To prevent misapprehension we shall be glad if you will allow us to ndd that although we charge 7| per cent, on fruit, we charge only 5 per cent, on other farm produce. Peculiarly enough, since writing the above we have received tho enclosed letter from one of the Te-iot growers, from which we take tbe following extraot ;— " The prices are quite equal to what I anticipated, especially after hearing of one of the growers here who had sent half a toa of peaches to the fpctory and got a return of id per lb. Serve him right j he should have had more faith In Lorle and Boy. I think they will come to toe by and bye that it will ba more to their advantage to ;do business through an agent."— L. and B. [The letter from whioh the extract Is taken was forwarded to us with the above by Moasrs Lorle and Hoy.— lin ]