THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12769, 10 February 1910, Page 4

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

APPLE EXPORT TO ENGLAND . AND THE CONTINENT. SEASON 1909. REPORT TO GROWERS AND SHIPPERS. Under date 13th August, 1909, Mr. Thomas Boss Walker, representing Messrs 'Edward Jacobs and Sons, London and Hamburg, reports as follows to the Tasmaniau growers and shippers of apples dealing with his firm, the circular letter being issued from London : — "It is a pleasanter duty to write to you upon the subject of the- past apple season than one had ventured to anticipate during the first few weeks ; for, as you will already have learned from various sources, including your own returns, the later shipments arrived in far better condition than the earlier ones, and the prices realised went a long way towards compensating for the poor results achieved during the. first.half of the season, when shipment after shipment was arriving wet, wasty, over-ripe, and rotten, and riddled with bitter pit. In the end the whole of the fruit consigned to Messrs Edward Jacobs and Sons by various shippers during the season, including all damaged, averaged out 9s 6Jd per case gross, or about 5s 4Jd per case nett on wharf (reckoning freight at an average of 2s B£d a case, and total shipping and selling expenses at about 4s 2d) ; not a bad average it will be admitted under the circumstances. The average gross price realised last year was 8s a case, so that the season just concluded showed an improvement of more than eighteenpence a case on its predecessor. Taking the last four seasons together, the whole of the "fruit consigned to my firm, amounting to between 200,000 and 300,000 cases, and including all brands, good, bad and indifferent, and all conditions, has brought an average price of a fraction of-a penny under. 9s per case, proving? as stated in my last annual report, that, notwithstanding, all '• the acknowledged drawbacks and hindrances with which shippers have to contend, the oversea export trade is not the ruinous venture that it is sometimes represented, to be. "I append below a table showing the average price obtained- by a dozen shippers, large and small, for theyhole of the fruit which they have consigned to my firm during the past four seasons, as indicating what can be achieved when due care is exercised in regard to .the quality grading mid packing of the fruit snipped. It is brands such as these that have made a reputation for themselves for reliability, that attract the keenest competition among the buyers ; and these are the shippers who find that the export trade pays. They do nob ruin their chance of success by shipping one season and abstaining the next because they happen for once to hnxe had a good market locally. No, they ship on consistently, year after year, and it is known among the buyers that their brands will be there as surely as th& seasons come around- For 16, 17, 18, yes, and in some cases even for 19 years, the same brands have been submitted by my firm to their buyers; and everyone knows where " those brands are to be obtained. A feeling of mutual trust has grown up in the course of yearp between shipper and broker, and mutual 'satisfaction has beefn the result. "In the table the first figures show the total number of cases shipped by the individual shipper during 1906-9; the amount following represents the gross price realised ; then follows the average per case : —

('HAMBURG MARKET. "I have just returned from a visit to the very important and attractive city of Hamburg, the Liverpool of Germany, and I cannot too strongly commend it to shippers as an exceptional outlet for the disposal of really firstclass apples. There is not much demand there for the varieties mainly grown in Tasmania, whiph find a better market in London. But for large, handsome, showy fruit such as the ■Jonathans, Cleopatras and Dunn's Seedlings of Victoria and South and Western Australia, Hamburg offers an outlet not to be surpassed in any part of the world. The fruit should be sent only by vessels tradiug to Hamburg direct, or, failing that, via Bremen. It is undesirable to ship fruit to Germany via London. "INCORRECT DELIVERIES 13 Y VESSELS. "One of the most serious disadvantages to which shippers are at present subjected, and it is one of which very few of them are conscious, lies in the fact that the deliveries of fruit made to the brokers by the various steamship companies are so ofton altogether at variance, with the brands and varieties of .fruit given on the J3s./L. For example: The 8./ L. sent to my firm for a certain vessel may include R. J. Wilson, 50 St.P. and 40 S.N. ; another broker, whom we will call A has on his 8./ L. Platypus, 50 A.P.M. ; and a third, B, has on his Huon Belle, 50 F.C. Each of these three brokers makes out his sale catalogue according to his 8./ L.. and, on receiving his first samples from the vessel, submits his various brands at auction, at the earliest suitable opportunity, and sells the above-mentioned brands, among others. But, next day, 'when delivery is made of the bulk, ray firm find that, instead of receiving R. J. Wilson, 50 St.P. and 40 S.N., the ship has delivered them only 45 St.P. and 35 S.N., and 5 Plzrtypus, A.P.M. and 5 Huon Belle, F.C. My firm know nothing whatsoever of the two latter brands, nor to whom thpy have really been consigned. In the meantime the ship lias delivered the other 5 cases bf'li, J. Wilson's Stunners to a fourth broker, C, and the missing. 5 cases of Scarlets to a fifth broker. D. But of this my firm are in complete ignorance j and A and B are equally ignorant of the whereabouts of their missing cases of A.P.M. and F.C, which are in my firm's possession. My firm comr plain to the shipping company and demand the balance of R. J. Wilson's fruit, Independently of them, and of one another, A and B do likewise as to i'.ioir oivn missi»g fruit. Thp- shipping company sjinpjy reply: 'That is your correct quantity, and wo are not responsible for marks (i.e. brands).' 'But,' remonstrate my principals, 'our 8./ L. entitles us to receive 50 cases of St.P. and 40 cases of S.N. of the R. J, i Wilson mark, and you have delivered Us five, cases of A.P.M. and five cases of F.G. belonging to two shippers who are quite unknown to us.' 'We have already told, you,' reply tho shipping company, 'that we are not responsible for marks. If you do not like to take what we hay© offered yo*u, to make up your quantity, then we shall have them sold on your account and hand you the prooeedq.' I am only stating a fact when I tell you that incidents of this kind are of frequent opcurrence in ihe experience of every broker; though, in. view of the hopelessness of obt/iiri.ing any redress, the best, is generally made of the matter, and no mention of it appearp on the account sales. The root of the trouble lies in the practice' which has obtained hitherto of specifying on^ the B/L. the growers', private, shipping brands in detail, instead of shipping the wlioJe of the fruit for each particular consignee under a single distinguishing mark, and then giving the growers', private brands in detail on the back of the B/L., or else on a separate specification. Between the various Australian ports at which the vessels pick up rruit .the different shipper*' brand*

run into some thousands in the aggregate, and it must bo admitted that at would be an almost super-human task for the ship's, officers to accurately check every one of these small parcels of fruit at the ship's side; besides leading to disastrous delay m getting it delivered and sold. There jb only way in which the present unsatisfactory state of affairs can be remedied, and. that is by the general adoption of the practice initiated by Messrs Edward Jacobs and Sons, two years ago, of using one particular shipping brand for the whole of the fruit consigned to each respective firm of brokers or distributing agents, in addition to the shipper's own private brand, under which his fruit is to be sold, and which, for convenience, may be called his selling brand. The former, i.e., the( consignee's Epecial mark, and nothing else, should appear on one end of the case, and the 6hip_per's selling brand and the name of the fruit and the grade mark on tho other end. . The shipping agents have always shown the keenest desire to adopt any and every means that can be devised to further the inteiests of the shippers for whom they act, and I feel confident that they will be only too pleased to assist in carrying out this important reform. Indeed, the majority of them did so with the utmost readiness last I season. I have discussed the subject with several of the largest consignees here, including the London managers of two of the biggest firms of fruitshipping agents on the other side, and I find their views to be in entire harmony with my own, "It is of the utmost importance, in the interests of the shippers themselves, that the course suggested above should be universally adopted by shippers consigning to Messrs Jacobs and Sons, and, unless it is, my firm can hold out no hope of avoidance of the provoking errors in delivery which are at present of such frequent occurrence. If , , h,'owe.ver, a ]l fruit consigned to them is shipped under one common brand, they will then be in a position to refuse to take delivery of fruit under any other mark, and also to insist on the delivery to them of every case that bears it. Needless to say, the consignee's shipping mark is made use of solely in connection with the shipping and delivery of the fruit, and is not so much as mentioned in connection with the sales, where every shipper's fruit is catalogued aud sold under his own private brand. The special shipping mark adopted by Messrs Edward Jacobs and Sons is a red X, and stencil plates for affixing it can be obtained at a nominal cost. "GRADING AND PACKING. "There arc a few shippers whose grading and packing now leave nothing to be desired, but in the majority of cases there is still much room j for improvement. It is quite tho exception to find the cases really full when opened, and more often than not there is room for at least another layer of apples. This is mainly because shippers wil not properly 'settle' the fruit in tbe cases before nailing down the lids, by 'jarring' them heavily on the floor of the shed. They give the cases two or three taps on the floor and then think that they have done all that is necessary, ' whereas what is required is to lift the ■ ends of the cases alternately and drop ; them heavily on the floor at least a score of times, when the fruit will | nearly always be found to have set- 1 tied down an inch or more. Then most shippers are too sparing with the wood wool. It is perfectly true that buyers do not want wood wool in place of apples, but on the other hand, unless sufficient is used to form an efficient pad between the fruit- and the lid of the cases, the wood wool might N just as well be omitted altogether, for all the use it is. When a case is really full of fruit, and it will not settle down any further, as much wood wool should be laid on top as can be crammed under the lid, and the buyer will aprpeciate more than anyone else the protection which has been offered to the. contents. I could name a dozen growers who carry out both . the above recommendations to the I letter, and their returns tell their own tale. But they unfortunately form only a very small percentage of the whole. I think that I cannot do better than repeat, for the benefit of the majority, a paragraph on the sub- ; ject of packing which ' was included iii my annual report for the 3'ear , 1907. " 'As each layer of apples is completed, the fruit should be firmly ' pressed down with the palms of the J hands. When the top layer- is reached, and the case is quite full, a loose lid, wrapped round with two or three folds of sacking, should be laid on top and held firmly whilst the case is jarred on the ground a score or more times, by lifting and dropping the ends of the case alternately. This will not bruise the fruit, but will cause it to settle down, often to the extent of. an inch. (If this is not done, the' settling down will take place in transit arid the case become slack). Constant experience warrants the asser-tion-that no harm will result if the fruit is standing even more than an inch above the sides of the case before it is jarred. Finally, a pad of fine wood wool, not less than a quarter of a pound weight, should be laid on th© fruit and the lid nailed down, first one end' and then tbe other. If the pad of wood wool causes a slight spring in the lid, so much the better. Fruit so packed never becomes slack in . transit, and has the further advantage of conveying to the buyer the pleasing impression of a full case. In packing apples which are too large to be placed in even rows, it is a good plan- to work diagonally across the case, beginning with an apple in the corner nearest the packer, followed by two, then by three, and so on across to tho opposite corner, the final apple locking the layer. "May I once more emphasize the importance, not merelv^,of grading the fruit, but also of marking the grade on the cases, and of specifying on the consignment note exactly how many cases there are of each grade. I This last essential point is often overlooked, with the result that the I salesman knows nothing of its being graded, and it is consequently sold from one sample as being all of one grade. '^ADVANCES. "Advauces will be made against consignments of fruit as usual; and in 'future my firm will advance upon 1 pears at the same rate as on apples. ! All advances are made at shipper's rißk."

No. £ s. d. s. d. 1. 3,657 • 2,258 13 9 12 4* 2 2,765 1,476 15 9 10 8* 3. 15,307 7,864 5 3 10 3 4. 1,554 -7804 9 10 0* 5. 4,967 2,470 15 3 9 11* 6. 1,324 656 6 3 9 103 7. 4,375 2,136 11 0 99J 8. 2,307 1,111 0 6 9 7* I 9. 8,422 4,033 4 6 9 7 10. 2,325 1,111 2 6 9 6J 11. 1,499 715 7 6 9 6* 12. 3,970 1,863 0 0 9 4J