A. V- ALLPORT.]

21

I.—1()A.

89. Do you think you would be: compelled, if this Bill became law, to do that ?—lt says so in the Bill —that is, the Board shall direct us when and how to pick it. 90. Quite so ; bu't dei you not think they woulel leave; it to your own discretion when to pick it ?— It says in the Bill that the Boarel will have: full authority to make arrangements and give: such directions as it think;; proper for the shipment and disposal of such fruit, when it thinks fit. We cannot pick apples to-elay on the chance of getting an order to-morrow. Apples are no good if they are kept a week ; they must be dealt with the same day as they are picked. 91. You mentioned that you did not think that the grading of the fruit was in the: best interests of the; producers ?—That is so. 92. Where did you get that information from ? —From different people I know in England, anel also from the well-known exporter of Tasmania!) apples, Mr. Boss Walker ; and he: is very decided em the point. He: says that (dividing them up into three different grades has no commercial value on the London market, lie is supposed to be a very geieid authority on the question. 93. Of bourse, you will admit that it depends on how you place' the- fruit on the market, the price you obtain for it ? —Yes. 94. Do yeiu not think it is far better not to pack small apples and big apples together ?— It is impossible to pack satisfactorily big apples and little ones together. lam not referring to the size at all when I speak about the three different grades : I am referring to quality. 95. Do you bedong to the Nelson Provincial Fruitgrowers' Association ?—I be;long to the Stoke Fruitgrowers' Association, anel they are affiliated to the Nelson Provincial Fruitgrowers' Association. 96. Are the: conditions obtaining at present quite satisfactory ?—The Nelson Fruitgrowers attend to the marketing of your fruit and you are quite satisfied with that arrangement ? —They do not dispose of it. They in a way arrange for shipping and that sort of thing, but the fruit is disposed of through different firms. 97. Do they not render you account sales, collect the money, and thai' sort of thing ? —I cannot tell you, because I have not had anything to do with them for three years. As I have already informed you, I have not done any exporting for the last three years. 98. 1 have' here account sales from the: Nelson Fruitgrowe:rs' Association, and the particular one I refer to is for thirteen cases, and shows the gross amount they received was £4 lis., less brokerage charges £1 6s. 6d., leaving a balance of £3 4s. 6d. Then on top of that there is brigading charges amounting to 3s. 10d., labels 2s. Bel., and bad debts fund 2s. 3d., and this brings the total down to £2 15s. 9d. Then, another account saks shows cool-storage charges on thirteen cases of fruit amounted to £1 Bs. 2d. ; and you follow em and there is £2 15s. 9d. plus the £1 Bs. 2d. taken out of the £4 lis., and the net balance the grower gets is £1 7s. 7d. It will be seen, therefore, that out of £4 lis. worth of goods supplied the, producer gets £1 7s. 7d. Do you think that that state of things is satisfactory to you ? —No, Ido not. That is not the present proposed Local Control Board—that is the voluntary Control Board's charges you have got, there. I may say that I have seen worse cases than that. Fortunately we —that is, my firm—do not ship through the Local Control Board. 99. I have another account sales here, and it shows out of a, total sum of £11 19s. the gross charges only come to £2 Bs. 9d. and the net return derived is £9 10s. 3d. ?—ls that the account sales of the Control Board ? 100. No, it is the account sales of a private firm ? —That is where the difference; comes in. 101. Do you not think, in the ■ interests of the fruit-producers in New Zealand, that if this Bill becomes law it will help you to get down to a far better business proposition than you have: at the; present time ? —No, absolutely no, because we would be putting in another middleman in the shape of a Board, and this would arid to our present costs. 102. But you must not forget that the Board is elected by yourselves, and you would be able to eliminate many of the existing difficulties, anel, furthermore, you would be: able to put the matter on a businesslike: footing —the Board would belong to the producers ? —The Board is there, but we have to pay for the extra Board. They cannot go out and sell the fruit unless they employ the agents that we have at the present time. 103. Yeiu could not get in a much worse position than you are in at present unless you have nothing at all ?—Those who are sealing their fruit themselves are not getting the bad prices you have quoted—that is, the Control Board's prices. 104. One of the account sales quoted by me was from a gentleman who gave evidence: against the Control Board ?—Well, I should say if he got that account sales from the Control Board it would be sufficient to make him be against any Control Board. 105. You think that the other one 1 quoted from a private firm is better ? —Absolutely. 106. Mr. Field.] You arrange things better than that ? —lt would mean that I would have to go out eif the fruitgrowing industry if I could not do better than that. 107. Mr. Corrigan.] Your idea is to leave things as they are? —Yes, far better than a Control Board like that. 108. You said you did not like Government Inspectors—there was too much inspection. Do you think it is necessary to have Inspectors in order to keep men up to their work who are slackers and breed pests and all sorts of things to the detriment of producers such as yourself ? —I said that be:fore. I believe in every one being compelled to keep their orchards clean and to ship fruit up to standard. 109. Then you would only agree to have inspection up to a certain point, and in connection with a new man starting in business you would agree that an Inspector should visit him. and advise him the best way to go about his business ? —I should say it would be all right. I would have been a long way better off if I had not taken, the advice of Inspectors in lots of cases. lam not referring to the present-day Inspectors at all—l am speaking of some years ago.