E. C. REYNOLDS.]

7

I.—loa.

31. Did you say you were chairman of that ? —No, of the Otago Central Fruitlands (Limited), and Chairman of the Provincial Council. 32. You sell most of your fruit locally ? —No, in London. 33. You are an exporting company, then % —Yes. The proportion we sell locally is very small- — only seconds, and the fruit not passed by the grader. 34. Would you say that the industry in Otago was in a prosperous condition ? —No, not yet,— we have not reached, that stage ; but I believe if left alone we shall be. We are putting £6,000 a year into this concern, and I believe that we shall come out all right yet—so long as we are not hampered and are allowed to do the fair thing. All our second- and. third-grade fruit is left on the ground, and we feed the pigs on it. We keep fifty pigs now, and they run about under the trees. 35. Have you much competition in the Dunedin market from Nelson fruitgrowers ? -They send apples there, and there is nothing to prevent them doing that. 36. You have no objection to that? —No; wo could send our apples to Nelson. Ours come in later —about six weeks later than Nelson. 37. Do you think local control would prevent outside apples coming in ?—As I have stated, I have not gone into the matter of local control. 38. Where do you think this Bill comes from ?—Otago has had nothing to do with it. 39. Then where does it come from ?—We do not know ; but if there is any need for it we are not going to stand out and hamper any one to whom it might be of use. Mr. Allen came to Otago and explained the position, and I understood that things were in a very bad state in Nelson. We said we were in a dreadful state ourselves. 'We have three returned soldiers, and not one can get a Government advance on. his property. Fruit-orchards apparently are considered such perilous risks that it will not advance on them. 40. Then, so far as your people are concerned, you have no need for the Bill at the present time ? —We do not go so far as that. I simply say that we do not see any necessity for the Bill so far as Otago is concerned, but if theie is a necessity for it anywhere else we are not going to offer any opposition so long as our interests are safeguarded, and we are not asked to do things which we might consider would not be good business. 41. You do not want to be included with Canterbury if the Bill were passed ? —I do not understand why we should be bracketed with Canterbury. 42. With regard to the qualification necessary to entitle a person to vote at the election of the Export Control Board, do you think it a fair provision that a man who has exported twenty-five cases of fruit in a year should be entitled to vote, while in the case of local control the small man must have not less than 120 fruit-trees, which would mean 480 cases ? —I do not think that is reasonable. 43. What would you. suggest ? —I would suggest that in the case of the Export Control Board the qualification to vote should be at least 100 cases. | ■ 44. You think twenty-five cases too small for the qualification ? —Ridiculously small. 45. The grower must have exported that number in one of three immediately past years ? —Yes. Here are the names of some of the exporters from our district: Otago Central Fruitlands (Limited), Fruitlands, 6,922 cases ; F. G. Duncan, Ettrick, 5,954 cases ; Benholm Orchard, Ettrick, 970 cases ; P. R. Sargood, Wanaka, 870 cases ; D. Leslie, Ettrick, 700 cases ; IT. D. Stronach, Ettrick, 950 cases ; Tonkins Estate, Ettrick, 5,821 cases ;G. M. Marshall, Earnscleugh, 277 cases : total 22,161. I do not know that we have any one shipping twenty-five cases, but if so he has an equal vote with (he man shipping seven thousand, which seems rather inequitable. I think a hundred cases would be a reasonable thing. 46. Hon. Mr. Nosworthy.] Do you export any fruit other than what you grow'?—No, r only what is grown on our own estate. 47. When you said just now that you desired to be left alone, does that mean you would prefer to have no Control Bill, and that you do not require the Government guarantee of Id. per pound ? — Yes, we would take the risk and ship without any Government guarantoo, and arrange our own finance. 18. I understand you are against the control of export ? —Yes. 49. You realize, of course, that it is impossible to have control of the export by the Government and at the same time allow private individuals to ship. There would be no need of the Bill at all ? ■ —Well, let there be control for those who want it. 50. You cannot do that; you would be hitting up against one another in the same market ? — Yes, but the markets are. so enormous —it docs not make the slightest difference in Liverpool. 51. The Government experience has been entirely different. If you had to pass the payments that have to be made for shipments of apples you would know all about it ? —T do not think we have claimed a penny from Otago. 52. Ido not think you have, but up till now you have not been big shippers is that not so ? — That is so. 53. Do you think yourself that the business wants overhauling and bringing up to date ? —I am not qualified to say what Nelson wants. lam only speaking from my own experience and from the point of view of Otago. lam really not qualified to say whether control is necessary for Nelson. The desire for this Bill seems to have emanated from Nelson, and if it is going to do them the slightest good, we have no wish to stand out so long as it is not going to jeopardize our own standing and our company have to go into liquidation as a result. We are within measurable distance of success —or, on the other hand, liquidation. I think we shall pull through, but not if we are hampered in any way. I have been seriously looking into the question. There is £40,000 invested. But we. could grow lucerne. T have worked out just how much capital we should have to write off if it came to the worst and we had to sow the whole of our orchards in lucerne, take a crop of apples