G. T. HULL.]

23

I.—loa.

is right—that the Argentine wholesale merchants took some sort of umbrage at the fact that the New Zealand Government had given a monopoly to a Uruguayan firm-that the Ne;w Zealand Government had given that firm the: sole: right to sell a certain quantity of apples in the: Argentine. Neiw, my opinion is that, instead of the apples being elisposed of, the bulk of them went into cold steirage. Whether they eleteriqrated or not Ido not know. But what the grower has missed in regard to that sale is this : that he did not have those apples distributed as they should have been throughout the Argentine, where there are many large cities besides Buenos Aires The Acting-Chairman : You are going outside the Bill. Witness : lam coming round to the Bill. lam pointing out that if a rigid control Bill goes through it will give the same power to this Export Control Boarel, wlm will exercise their right just the same, as the Minister has done under the principal Act. I cannot tell you what that Act is, but he has that- right, 1 understand 2. Hon. Mr. Nosworthy.] There, was an offer from South America for a, certain limited quantity of fifty theiusauel cases from the, federation ?— We'll, I understand it was limited-to that, but why was the sale made conditional ? 3. So that the market would not be: Hooded with consignments ? Well, sir, what I weiulel like to say is this : that that embargo prohibited the sending of New Zealanel apples to the, Argentine, but it could not stop the Tasmanian or Australian people sending their apples. I e:an tell yem that 1 had an offer to ship ten thousand cases of Australian apples to South America last season in refrigerated space, and. we coulel easily have shipped that ten thousand, castas there and sei upset the sale with competition from Australia. Therefore 1 say that rigid restriction like that does not benefit the growers. And it has brought this in : that the Tasmanian fruit is more than likely to go in there next year. Our own particular firm of brokers have: stated that as they cannot ge:t New Zealand fruit they must look to Tasmanian. 4. Is not your firm in business in Tasmania, as well as in either countries ? You are not in the Now Zealanel business alone ? —That may be so, sir, but wo are in the New Zealand business, and through being in the New Zealand business we do not wish to take advantage and destroy what might possibly be a good market. However, lam quite satisfieel that this rigid control, as suggested in the Bill, is not going to be beneficial to the growers in the long-run. Now, in regard to exporting to the English market, I have heard it stated that it is proposed that the growers shoulel be restricteel to three' or four recognized firms of English brokers. Well, sir, I think that would be a mistake. The; time must come when the guarantee will have to be discontinued. The Government cannot gei on indefinitely continuing the guarantee. Therefore if you arc going to restrict your business to three or four firms you are going to restrict your finance. The greater number of brokers there are competing the better chance there is of getting better finance—more liberal finance. Personally, I think that the guarantee is no benefit at all at present beyond the fact that the grower gets a little better advance to-day than he weiuld under the ordinary advances. Australia and Tasmania, as no doubt you know, are entirely financeei by English brokers, who make advances to cover shipping and other charges— and I belierve this season they came to 7s. 6d. Well, manage to carry on without the guarantee. I may say that I have heard it stated in a fruitgrowing district that the guarantee helps them to get rid of stuff they do not want to sell locally. As long as they gert Id. per pound for such stuff they are satisfied. Well, I elo not think that is what the guarantee is intended for. Ido not think I have very much more to say, sir, except this: that this Government Control Bill, if it is rigidly enforced to the extent proposed, will not be beneficial to the growers in the long-run. I may say that I think the Government graeling system, as it is at present carried out by the Department, is most excellent; and I. also think the Fruitgrowers' Federation are doing most excellent work in connection with shipping and other similar matters, but I do not think that they should enter into the merchaneiising side of the business. Hon. Mr. Nosworthy : With regard to what you say about the Order in Council, the Order in Council was made in order to protect the? conelitiems of a sale made by the Fruitgrowers' Federation — the feeleration recognized as the heael of the fruitgrowers —to a South American buyer, who made a good offer, subject to him handling all the New Zealand fruit, sent to South America that year; and our object was to try and regain the market wo had lost. This offer was quite the best one made, and it was therefore accepted, It was for fifty thousand cases. All the information we> had was to the' effect that the South American market coulel only absorb fifty thousand oases of New Zealanel apples in one season, and this was confirmed by your own agent in South America ; and it was to stop other people shipping indiscriminate quantities of fruit until we got the market re-established again that the Oreler in Council was issue:d. That was the object I had in view. Witness : Do yeiu think, sir, that that sale was a good sale ? Hon. Mr. Nosworthy: I think it was better than it weiuld have been if there had been no embargo. Witness: Dei yeiu think that a sale made subject to arrival in good condition is a gooel c.i.f. sale ? Hon. Mr. Nosworthy : It was subje;ct to arrival in proper condition. It was not shipped in cold storage. It was shipped in the same way as the fruit had been shipped prior to the: war. As it happened, this particular lot elid not arrive in such good condition as fruit had been in the habit of arriving prior to the: war. Witness : Was there any reason for its not arriving in gooel condition ? Hon. Mr. Nosworthy : There was the same reasem that we' have had in connection with some of the shipments to London. Some of them have arriveel in good condition, and some of them have not arriveel in such good condition. That is the only reason I can give you. You know that that is a fact. Shipments from Tasmania and Australia often arrive; in the same varying conditions. I