ADVANCE AUSTRALIA

Otago Witness, Issue 3743, 8 December 1925, Page 27

ADVANCE AUSTRALIA

A DEVELOPING INDUSTRY. The canned fruit industry of Australia has a particularly attractive exhibit in the Commonwealth Court, and one which shows the rapid strides that have been made by Australian canners under the supervision of the Government. In past years Australian canned fruit was considered inferior to the product of Californian factories which supplied, and continue to supply, a very large New Zealand market. Australian fruit was formerly canned in unattractive tins, and the quality varied, but of late years great changes have been brought about. The fruit is now of unvarying excellence in quality, the canning is perfect, and each of the many firms engaged in the business makes a feature of the manner in which the finished produce is placed before £he public. „ Industry in Australia has made sub. stantial strides during the last few years, and since 1915 the area planted in fruit trees has increased by more than 80,000 acres. The total area in Australia now under cultivation is 275,687 acres, and fruit growing gives employment to 27,809 Australians. The canned fruit industry employs about 5000 people. It may, therefore, be readily seen that the big and brightly-coloured pyramids of fruit cans contributed by 12 Australian factories and displayed in a prominent bay at the far end of the Australian Court represent a side of industrial life in the Commonwealth that has already grown to very important proportions. Numbers of visitors who have sampled the contents of various cans during the last day or two have expressed their extreme satisfaction with the quality of the fruit, and have stated that it is superior to any at present on the market. Included amongst the varieties exhibited are pears, peaches, pineapples, apricots, golden drop plums, raspberries, and black currants. The last-named fruit has not before been canned, and its presence in the Exhibition is a new departure in the industry. The process of canning fruits is a most interesting one, and in the Australian factories all fruits are treated under most hygienic conditions and with the greatest care. The manufacture of the tins is an industry in itself, for to attempt to fill the tins if they leaked in the slightest degree would be courting disaster. The cutters and shapers in the factories automatically produce lib and 21b tins from flat sheets of metal, and each process of filling and finishing is completed entirely by the complicated mechanism in use.

After each tin is tested it is transferred to filling benches where girls are busily engaged in peeling, coring f and cutting ripe, luscious fruit of all varieties. The fruit is washed, graded, and placed in the tins for treatment. Canned fruit is packed in various grades and for this purpose it is not only classed aocording to size and quality, but the syrup is manufactured on the premises from various grades of pure Australian cane sugar. This is done in accordance with strict regulations issued by the Federal Customs Department. After the syrup is added, the tins are received by huge, steam cookers where a certain degree of heat is maintained. Timed to a second, each tin is discharged from the cooker, cooled off and conveyed to the warehoase to be labelled, stacked, and stored The exhibit should prove of immense value to the industry in Australia, for there is a large market in New Zealand, at present mainly supplied by American products. It is a typical example of the advantages that might be gained by buying within the Empire.