LEMON CURING FACTORY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19622, 4 May 1938, Page 16

LEMON CURING FACTORY

GISBORNE PROPOSAL GROWERS TO MEET CO-OPERATIVE PROJECT A proposal, to establish a co-opera-tive lemon curing factory in Gisborne will be discusesd next week by growers of the district. A committee consisting of prominent growers has had under consideration for some time the idea of forming a co-operative citrus society to erect an up-to-date curing factory, and the committee is of opinion that the time has arrived when some definite action should be taken. Factories of this nature already are operating in all the other principal citrus-growing areas in New Zealand. It has been proved that it is unecono-->:o *o market uncured lemons, and the Government is discouraging this practice. Specialised Work. The curing and grading of lemons is a specialised work requiring buildmgs specially constructed, and growers realise that the expense of such buildings is too great for the individual grower. Also, the introduction of the fruit-grading regulations of 1938 makes the grading of all lemons compulsory, according to set standards, before being offered lor sale. Grading, also, is not a simple matter, and can be done satisfactorily only by trained graders. Under those conditions, therefore, the committee feels that the establishment of a co-operatively run factory appears to be the only satisfactory way of meeting the present situation. A large attendance of growers in anticipated at a meeting to 'be held next Monday evening, when consideration will toe given to a report by the committee.