FRUIT INDUSTRY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16653, 24 May 1928, Page 2

FRUIT INDUSTRY

1 VALUE NOT REALISED "BEST LAND IN THE WORLD" "It is time -Ave woke up to what tlio fruitgrowing industry Ims done _ for this district in the past and is .likely to do in the, future," said Mr. IT. B. French at. a meeting of the Hastings Chamber of Commerce. "I was very interested, when roadhio' the reports of three delegates sent specially from the Argentine to find out whether New Zealand fruit wasj sufficiently free from .disease to allow j its importation into that country, to j notice that the spokesman of the delegation said that the district round about Hastings was the best in the world for fruit culture." Mr. French wont, on to say that the average yield per acre was greater than in any other part of New Zealand. Ho'knew of one farm of ten acres which yielded 10.000 cases of first-grade export fruit, and he had been told that some orchards did bet-

ter than that. : When it was realised that Hawke s Bay fruitgrowers had sent away lt»2,000 cases of apples and 3 1 2,52fi cases of pears this season—which were far greater quantities than were ever cxptH'tcifl —lie thought that the chamber ought to express to the Fruitgrowers' Conference (to be held in Hastings this week), and to the Empire Marketing Board its appreciation of the progress made by the industry. Seven or eight acres of good land on the flat about Hastings, concluded "Mr. French, would keep a man comfortably, and if good prices for export fruit were 'maintained the fruit industry was going to be a great thing

for Hawke'sßay. , ' Mr. P. Loach said that one man he knew had been aide to build a house out of the. profits of one year's crop alone. •Mr. P. E. .Smith said that he knew of a tomato-grower who had taken £BOO cash for 50 tons of tomatoes grown Oil two acres of land; that was up till three weeks ago, and there wore then 30 tons left.

Mi 1 . J. S. McLeod: Of course, we need to know the net return before we can assess real values. Mr. McLeod added that the New Zealand Friiit Control Board's exhibit at Wembley was the best New Zealand exhibit there, and was really splendid.