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(5.) Deputation of Canterbury Fruit-geowebs (Messrs F. Wilding, Chairman, F. Sisson, and S. B. W t ilson.) 106. The Chairman.] You appear as a deputation ? Mr. Wilding : Yes; I am proprietor of the Styx Orchard, comprising 33 acres of heavy swamp-land at Styx, fully planted with trees, from fourteen to three years old, chiefly apples, including best cider varieties, imported from Herefordshire and Devonshire. Mr. Frank Sisson, who, with Mr. Wilson, accompanies me, has 30 acres of orchards, Mr. Wilson 25. We are members of the committee of the Canterbury Fruit - growers Association. I have spent considerable sums of money in exporting apples to England, owing to difficulty of obtaining market within the colony; am now selling at a low price for export to South America. We have great difficulty in selling within the colony. It is not so much the low price obtainable as the impossibility of getting rid of the fruit, especially apples, in large quantities that we complain about, more particularly the early autumn apples. This is due to our markets being glutted with foreign fruit. The present duty is insufficient, in our opinion, to prevent this. The Tasmanian and Australian fruit ripens a fortnight before New Zealand fruit. It is picked on the green side, and it forestalls New Zealand fruit of the same description by about a fortnight. By the time our fruit of a given class ripens the public have been consuming the Australian fruit for this period, and they look for a change. For example, cherries from Australia come in a fortnight before any are ripe here. They are consumed, and by that time Australian apricots and plums are coming in, and prevent the sale of New Zealand cherries. This fruit is not sold as imported. It is picked green, and ripens in cases on the voyage. It is poor in flavour, unwholesome, and unsatisfactory in every way when compared with fruit which has ripened naturally on the trees. Much of it is mere rubbish, unfit for cooking or jam purposes. We submit that, as we are taxed on nearly everything that we use in our orchards —our pumps and syringes, on potash, soda, and various ingredients for washes for trees —and as we are taxed to support an expert who travels the country urging people to plant more fruit-trees, the least the State should do is to endeavour to secure for us the home market of such fruits as can be grown to advantage within the colony. Owing to the difficulty of finding a market, numbers of growers in Canterbury are suffering their trees to be neglected. Cattle and horses are running in the orchards, and the fruit-production, in spite of the recent State efforts to promote planting, is, if anything, decreasing, or, at all events, stationary. If we had the home market secured to us this would be changed rapidly. An enormous impetus would be given to planting fresh trees and renovating old orchards. The price of fruit to the consumer would not be enhanced by the imposition of increased duties. In the long run it would be lessened. If the growers could depend on a steady home market they could, by employing additional labour, enormously increase the productiveness of their plantations, and by increasing their output they could profitably sell at a lower price. There are in every New Zealand port a number of agents, auctioneers, and importers who are directly interested in keeping Australian fruit in prominence, and obstructing the sale of the New-Zealand-grown article. In many cases the retailers are indebted to these importers, and are not free to purchase as they wish. The trade has got into a groove, and it is very difficult to get it out without strong measures. While men, women, and boys are standing idle, unable to get work of any kind at almost any price, the fruit-consumers of New Zealand are paying large sums for foreign fruit. Thus, while our own kinsfolk and fellow-colonists are idle, we are deliberately employing the inhabitants of other countries to do work which could with advantage be done here. The encouragement and development of the fruit industry will help to promote activity and give employment in other directions. I shall want New-Zealand-made cases for about 6,000 bushels of apples during the current season. The jam industry ought to lead to the manufacture here of bottles. The Canterbury Fruit and Cider Company has the manufacture of jam as one of its objects; also canning and preserving in other ways. Mr. Sisson has been engaged all his life in the fruit industry —thirty years in this colony. We have been urging for years the introduction of a measure dealing with pests. We give employment to other trades, and use New Zealand timber for eases. lam chairman of the Canterbury Fruit and Cider Company. We have gone largely into the fruit industry, and we contemplate going into jam. That means making our own jars, cans, or bottles. 107. The Chairman.] You want a protective duty put upon foreign fruit. What amount of duty do you think would be effectual?— The present duty is -J-d. per pound, and we think Id. would be ample. 108. Is there room for any large extension in the jam industry ? —I think so. We send tons of plums to Dunedin from here for jam-making, and it comes back to us and is sold as jam. Mr. Sisson : The firm I send plums to informed me that they could do this season with 60 tons of black currants and 60 tons of raspberries for jam, but they cannot procure the quantity of fruit they require. I would like to put in the latest account-sales I have received for forty cases of apples sold recently in Dunedin. " Mr. F. Sisson. " Manse Street, Dunedin, 9th February, 1895. " Cr. Sales by Park, Reynolds, and Co., Auctioneers. £ s. d. £ s. d. "14 cases apples, at 2s. 6d. ... ... ... ... 1 15 0 1 case apples ... ... ... ... ...020 25 cases apples, at 3s. 3d. ... ... ... ... 413 5 18 3 Charges. "Commission ... ... ... ... ... ... 0 6 0 Advertising ... ... ... ... ... ...040 Freight, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 0 9 1 10 9 £4 7 6 "E. & O. E. —Dunedin, 11th February, 1895. —Park, Reynolds, and Co."