A. V. ALLPORT.]

19

I.—loa.

52. You have heard of the combinations that they have' in America in connection with fruit, and the great success of some of them ? —Yes, some of them have be<3n successful. But there they have the principle: that we are, asking for. Not one: of them is compulsory : they are all voluntary. 53. That is so ? —There is not a compulsory one in the: lot: they are all voluntary. 54. Dei yeiu not think you could get the growers together into a combination very much quicker and more economically by having an Act of Parliament than, by going to the enormous expense eif getting them together? —No, Ido not think so. All the Acts of Parliament in the world will never save a lot of the growers from going under. With all the control that you like to get, there are some that yeiu would never save from going under. 55. That is so in every industry. We are considering the industry as a whole. The combinations in America have been of enormous advantage: to the fruitgrowers—raisin-growers anel orange-growers, for instance ?—Well, from what we read that is so. At the same time there are an enormous number of growers who will not come: under those Boards. 56. Mr. Langstone.] With regard to the exporting of the fruit by the present federation : do they e:xport all the fruit, or elei they only make arrangements for the small growers ? —At the present time they arrange the shipping, and also, where: the small growers are concerned, they arrange with private firms to do the packing and to ship to agents in London. 57. You are against all forms of compulsion ?—Yos, I am, when it means making us give: up the results of our labour for twelve months to a Boarel of Control that we have no confidence in, Ido not wish to be egotistical, but I think I can manage my own business bettor than any Board of Control can manage' it for me. 58. Has the grading been a good thing ? —Well, it has in a way ; but the grading, in my way of looking at it, is absolutely wrong. We waste'an awful lot of money in the grading. We growers have neiw to go to the: expense of grading our fruit into three grades for the London market, where one grade would bo cheaper and would fetch just as much on the market. I have never hoard of any one getting more for their " extra fancy " grade on the London market than they did for their " good " grade:. In fact, in lots of cases that I have heard of " good " grade has brought a higher price than the " extra fancy " grade. So that wo are wrong altogether in that way. It seems to me that the Now Zealand growers are put to a lot of unnecessary expense in having to grade their fruit into three different classes, when 1 know for a fact that the one class is a better selling article than those divided up into three. 59. Do you think that the Boarel woulel arbitrarily come forward and toll yeiu to pick your fruit when it was not ready ? If it was a Board elected by the fruitgrowers, surely it would have: enough common-semse to know eir to find out when the fruit in your orchard should be: picked ? —I can only say this : that no one in the growing of fruit can toll a fortnight ahead when he ought to pick his fruit—when it will be ready. 60. Would you like the Government to withdraw their guarantee —woulel that be inimical to the interests of the industry ?— I think that the Government should withdraw their guarantee. I have advocated that for years. Wc would be: em a far better wicke;t if the Government withdrew their guarantee, and withdrew all the restrictions that are put on fruit for export at the present time. There: is too much inspection altogether. Ido not believe that a, man should be allowed to export rubbish, but it is adding too much to the cost to the grower to have: to pay for the whole of the inspection and the faels that we: get from a lot of the Inspectors. 61. Could those things be left to the discretion of the individual!—Yes, up to a certain point. I would only make it prohibitive to export anything below a certain grade. 62. With respect to the charge of 3d. per case, what would that amount to in your district ? —I could not say what it would amount to in my district, but it would amount to about £160 a year to my firm. 63. Would that extra 3d. drive any of the growers into bankruptcy ?—I do not say that it would drive them into bankruptcy —I do not say that. til. There are other extra charges ? —Yes. There are: a lot of other extra charges besides that 3d. There is a charge of 3|d. for brigading, point, handling, sorting, repacking, &c., and then.there is 2J per cent, for bad debts. It comes to somewhere about Bd. a case altogether. The 3d. only would be equal to about £160 a year to my firm. 65. Hon. Mr. Nosworthy.] I think you said you attended the meeting that was held ? —Yes. 66. Was the meeting open to all, eir only to those who were opposed to the Bill ?—lt was advertised asking those: to come who were opposed to the Bill or who wished to see an amendment to it. But I want to say this : that practically all the fruitgrowers in Stoke were there, excepting those that were accounted for. Most of those that were away I know were opposed to the Bill. 67. You only surmise that —you do not know ? —Oh, yes, I do know. 68. Was not the meeting called by those who were against the Bill and who were coming before this Committee ? Was it not called by those who were putting up a fight against the Bill ?—No, it was not that. It was left until the last moment. We were expecting that the present Control Board would call a meeting to discuss the Bill, and it was left until the last minute. There was no move on the part of the District Committee, or the Fruitgrowers' Association, or the present Control Board to call meetings to discuss the Bill, so we took it into our own hands and put an advertisement in the paper calling the meeting, because we knew there was such a strong feeling against it. 69. Did the advertisement state that you were calling a meeting against the Bill ? —The advertisement asked those who were opposed to the Bill, or who wished to see amendments made to the Bill, to attend the meeting.