ORCHARDISTS HOPEFUL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17957, 8 December 1932, Page 6

ORCHARDISTS HOPEFUL

NEW SEASON’S PROSPECTS HIGHER PRICES HOPED POR BIG NEGOTIATION IN: VIEW Gisborne orchardists who have a greatly reduced apple crop this season will receive encouragement from the rews that important negotiations are in view with the prospect of disposing of the whole of the Dominion’s export crop at a price that will give growers better returns than they received last year. Mr. .1. 0. Hardy, secretary of the Poverty Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association, returned last night from a visit to Nelson and Wellington, and to-day lie gave a brief outline of a proposal that will have a big bearing on the marketing of the coming season’s crop. It was hoped, he said, that there would be no necessity to call on the Government guarantee in regard to last season’s exports, although it appeared 'certain that the New Zealand Fruitgrowers Federation’s fund, which Was initiated last season, will he drawn on to a certain extent. Any scheme, therefore, that would return a better price than the guarantee was certain to receive serious consideration.

The proposal, said Mr. Hardy, was to consider an offer made by a large fruit-broking firm in England to purchase the whole of the exports 'at a guaranteed minimum price that would show a clear margin above the guarantee,' the grower to receive an’ even greater return if the market warranted it. A representative of the firm would be in New Zealand shortly to discuss the matter with Auckland, Hawke’s Bay and Nelson growers. A mixed reception may await the proposal, Mr. Hardy intimated, but he believed that the scheme would be given earnest consideration. Even without a guaranteed minimum price, it was pointed out by opponents to the scheme, apple prices should be better in England next season, because of the greatly reduced supplies expected. Nelson orchardists anticipated a reduction of about 25 per cent, in the exports, which totalled over 1,000,000 cases last season from that province alone. Hawke’s Bay also expected a similar reduction in the export crop, while the Gisborne exports would: be hardly a quarter of last season’s total.