if. S. IZARD.j

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13. He is one of the: directors ? —Yes. 14. Anel you have a director in Canterbury ?—Yes ; there is a director in Canterbury. There are two directors in Nelson, one in Auckland, one in Wellington, and one in Hawke's Bay. 15. What revenue have you got ? —The orchard-tax, anel a percentage on very small net sales of orchard supplies, and things like that. 16. What does the orchard-tax amount to ?—About £1,300 or £1,500 ; that is about all. Mr. Napier, the secretary of the federation, will give you details. 17. What acreage have: you in orchard in Auckland? Yeiu mentioned two thousand growers: what acreage would that be ?■—l coulel not tell you exactly. 18. The Acting-Chairman.] You have viticulturists, too: are they included in that number?— No, they are not registered. 19. Do they come under the heading of orchards ?-- Not for the' purposes of registration. 20. Mr. Lam j stone,.] You are: a • fruitgrower : what methods have: you for marketing fruit in Auckland is it em the basis eif co-operative auctioneering ? It was, but unfortunately that faileel ; wo coulel neit keep it going, because the: moment we: started co-operative methods eif selling there we had very live auctioneers trying all the time to crmtrol our jirie:e's, and we had lo wind up the affair. Disloyalty had a lot to do with it. 21. Is there: much waste going on under this auction selling? Dei the' growers lose niue'h by the present method of auctioneering fruit in Auckland ? Neil while there is gooel fruit; but there is such a hit eif rubbish, and that depreciates the: price of the good fruit. 22. Mr. Corrigan.] The Bill as drafted does not give the greiwers the' right to take a, vote whether the)' will bring it into force or not; woulel you have any objection to a. clause being added in that way? The; trouble is how you woulel define the voters. Jl' a vote we're' given to every registered orchardisl throughout New Zealanel there woulel be; several thousands who might vote, but a theiusand eir two orchardists, although registered, woulel not bother about it one way or the other. They are not exporters, and are never likely to be exporters. 23. We; had the same difficulty in dairy control. 1 was just wondering whether you woulel have any objection. I can. soo what is in your mind now. You said something about the federation; vein are a member eif it, I understand : are they all in favour of the Bill ? What is the consensus eif opinion in the federation ? Directors of the: federation, you mean '. 21. Yes ? —-As I have already saiel, Mr. Turner, of Dunedin, who is a director, is opposing the Bill, and is the only one in the federation opposing it, so far as I know. 25. The Bill will reduce the: orchard-tax, 1 understand. Will" the: levy of 3d. under the; Bill be sufficient to include the loss to the; federation and. leave: enough to pay the Control Board ? —-I think so, sir. Ido not think it will affect the federation. It is in such a strong position that it will not affect their finances. 26. You were talking about the Honolulu market: what amount does the Honolulu market absorb ? —About ton thousand cases a year. It used to be overdone. 1 think it is a limited market. Too olo.se to the: American market. 27. I suppose you have no means of stating definitely.what it could absorb ? Nei. 28. Have you over exported any fruit ?- Have I personally ? Yes ; the last two years I have. 29. Judging by your experience as an exporter, is there anything in this Bill that might be considered, as detrimental to the exporter ? —None whatever, in my opinion. 30. Hon. Mr. Ngata.] You are opposed to Dominion pooling, Mr. Izard ?—••Yes. 31. How are you going to have Dominion control without pooling ? -I think it woulel bo quite: possible for the Control Board to keep the fruit of each district separate. 32. Would the Local Board do that ? —lt could not control export. 33. You are opposed to Dominion pooling ? —I am opposed to Dominion pooling for export. 34. Why should the Dominion Control Board govern the local fruit if you are; opposed to their pooling for the Dominion ?—Under local control each province would deal with its own fruit. 35. With regard to these two thousand growers : what proportion of them would be growers of apples and pears ?—I could not possibly say -for this reason :we grow a lot of stone-fruit, and are .going in very largely for citrus-fruit —lemons, for instance —anel I Could not say what the proportion would be at all. 36. What has been the highest export from the Auckland Province ?—I cannot speak from memory —something under twenty thousand. 37. What proportion of the Dominion export would that be ? —For the year before last it woulel not be more than a tenth. 38. This Bill contemplates the setting-up of Local Control Boards. Why should not the Local Control Boards handle fruit for export ? —The Control Boards have got to be set up in the first instance, and I elo not think for one moment that you are: going to get local control carried right through New Zealand —it weiuld take years. 39. But you arc in favour of local control ?—As I have saiel before, yeiu have got to carry local control in each district first, and it is only right I think, sir, that each province and each district shoulel have' the right of saying whether they would vote local control or not. 40. Mr. Hawken.] Have you been long in the fruit business ? —For about fourteen years. 41. In what district ?—Auckland ; at Henderson, ten or eleven miles out of Auckland. 42. Judging by your experience, is it necessary that either methods should be adopted ? Are the fruitgrowers in such a bad way as is generally made; out, ? I think it is necessary : the time has come : the fruitgrowing industry is in a parlous condition. Senile' eif us who had an interest in and worked for the good of the fruitgrowing industry have leieike'd into the matter very carefully, anel we have arrived at the conclusion that there should be a compulsory clause—we want legal standing m the matter.