IMPORTED FRUIT

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22473, 7 January 1943, Page 2

IMPORTED FRUIT

Prices And Supplies

The following reply has been made by the Minister of Agriculture and Marketing, the Hon. J. G. Barclay, to criticism by the Bureau of Importers in connection with the prices and supplies of fruit, with particular reference to bananas, pineapples and oranges:—

“The attempt by the Bureau of Importers to mislead the public will not be appreciated by that vast majority of reasonably-minded people who know the impossibility of anybody, whether Government or private concerns, supplying full quantities of imported fruits under present wartime conditions. To suggest that there is little or no difficulty in arranging supplies and shipping from the Islands and Australia is obviously incorrect, and no one should be more aware of this position than the officials of the Bureau of Importers. “The Internal Marketing Division has accepted every case of pineapples under reasonable shipping conditions from both Fiji and Tonga, and up till recently has had a standing order in Australia for regular shipments. It is quite evident that, with the increased local demand for citrus fruit and pineapples in these countries for military supplies, only small quantities are available for export to New Zealand. Prices in Australia are now so high, and the quality of the fruit so unreliable, that the division has withdrawn its order until prices become more reasonable. The late*st quotation from Australia was 29 3 fo.b. for a case containing between 16 and 20 pines. The division has made practically no profit from its pineapple importations. Departmental Method “The suggestion bv the bureau that the division or the Price Tribunal fixed prices of pineapples and certain other imported fruits is simply another wrong statement. The division passes fruit to the wholesale distributors to be auctioned. In the case of pineapples on the value placed on ea h case by retailers according to the number and quality of the contents. To prevent prices soaring. as has already happened in the case of uncontrolled fruits, such as grapes, cherries, strawberries, the division places a maximum of 30 - a case on Island pineapples, which is far below the figure that retailers would pay if there were no ceiling. “The only recent Island shipment landed in perfect condition, and retailers placed the maximum price on nearly all the fruit. Many shipments of Australian pineapples, however, have landed in poor condition. and after paying the high f ob. original cost, plus transport charges throughout New Zealand. wastage and selling cost, most shipments have been sold at a loss and not at an exhorbitant profit, as suggested bv the bureau. “If the bureau is so anxious for an inquiry, let it make inquiries first as to the source of its own information so that the statements by this body in future may be accepted by the public as reliable/

It is officially announced that Sergeant Ronald Hamilton Bell, ot the Royal New Zealand Air Force, last his life in an aircraft accident during formation flying at a Royal New Zealand Air Force station this morning. His next-of-kin is his mother. Mrs M G. Bell, of Te Poi. Matamata.