FRUIT SUBSIDY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21324, 19 April 1939, Page 4

FRUIT SUBSIDY

PAYMENT FOR LAST SEASON

COSTLY FOR GOVERNMENT

Orchardists in Hawkes Bay who sold apples and pears on the local market. under the Government guarantee, which averaged 5/2 per case, have now been paid out by the Government for the amount below this sum which their fruit brought on the open market. Reviewing the sum which has been paid out in every case of apples sold in New Zealand it is really little wonder that the Government this season declined to continue the guarantee on last year’s basis, says the "Daily Telegraph," Napier.

The actual amount which the Government has had to face for the sale of every case of apples is 1 4.3 d, and the position was accentuated as far as Hawke’s Bay was concerned by the fact that the crop last season was a record one. It was estimated that some 1.000,000 cases of fruit were harvested. Of these 350.000 were exported and thus would not be affected by the local market guarantee, while a considerable section of the remaining 650.000 cases would not reach the standard required tor the local market. However, the amount of apples marketed from Hawke’s Bay In New Zealand must have been very large, though no figures are obtainable which would give an indication as to the Government’s commitment in this district.

The prices for locally marketed pears came nearer the guarantee last season, and the amount which has now been paid out in respect to this class of fruit is 6.3 d per case. Taken right through, however, the burden on the Government in respect t< its guarantee for locally marketed fruits last year was a heavy one; far heavier than was anticipated when the guarantee was made.

From the viewpoint of orchardists in Hawke’s Bay particularly, of course, the guarantee was by no means excessive to cover the costs of production and marketing. The orchardists of this district had suffered two disastrous seasons in the previous two years, including the loss of the total crop of the year before, and some guarantee which would cover the costs and give a fair return for their labour seemed most necessary.

In this connection the position this season, with the Government declining to give a guarantee for locally marketed fruit, places the growers solely at the mercy of the local markets. However, up to the present time the prices obtained have been satisfactory. It is to be hopeu tor the sake of the growers that these conditions will continue to the end of the season, particularly in view of the smaller crop which has been harvested in Hawke’s Bay this season.