H—3oa

for United States Joint Purchasing Board had to be delivered in Auckland The Auckthe hIwUVr n6 y su I fficient t0 meet even its local requirements, but, normally, if ? y ! Bay cro P 1S lar s e xt 1S not difficult to supplement Auckland. This year's tww, t GlO ?> ho ™™> ™ relatively light. A continuous flow of frj had PWm O, A maintained from Nelson to Auckland, much of it being shipped to New reSedtndlrioratSn'or damlge™" ™ t PI ° CedUre ' but also oftm Prices , m A Schedule of a PP Ie and P e f prices was first established towards the end of 1942 when a maximum price was set for the later sales of that year. In 1943 the principle of a S n^he^crno^ er Sf W KV n^ 0^U n ed ' a S reement entered mto between the Division bvlmonth Tw? T Commi f as t0 P™es which should operate month £fTSrW In ™ a J tin f Principle the higher values which were normally received in the §arly and late months of the season have been broken down and added during the mid-season period. This results in a more gradual swing of prices month by month. Crop quantities fluctuate from season to season, apple and pear trees being regarded as biennial bearers The 1945 season was one of comparatively low pStLn and was still further reduced by hail damage, most seriously in the Canterbury and Nelson districts. No precise estimate of the loss sustained by orchardists in these districts has been possible, although many growers in the Loburn area had their crops completed destroyed, and many m Nelson lost heavily through reduction of grade. P Storage The grading standards for 1945 were confirmed according to the 1944 extension cl a fondSof r ce t da T ge an , d black " S P ot ™ » for m inimum grade! Crop condition generally throughout the year was excellent, keeping losses bV deterioration, during both harvesting and cool-storage periods, to a minimum. One of FebSarv °« n rl M am P T S 18 make a Cr ° P which is harvested almost wholly between February and May spread evenly over the year. The cool-storage space available this ai p ?. a PP roxim ately 850,000 case-space in public stores and 50,000 in private stores. Repacking losses on fruit. distributed ex cool store were again kept to a mmimum through the policy of disposing of fruit before deterioration set iT Cool W6re T cent - A Sreat deal more fruit than the total cool!Z r e P r S S l° re ' ? mce tte ear Her cool - st °red varieties are marketed maintain L ftp 6 room availa^ le for tte late keeping ones, and at the same time to maintain an even spread over the markets during the harvesting season. To encourage growers to provide suitable varieties in a condition where thev will !° ng P T° dS a C °m; Storage bonus is P aid durin S cer tain weeks of the year t ho, 1 S T ™ S amo ™ ted to 9d. per case to compensate fo/the extra labour involved m making the special selections and special pickings. In d?,f r t°^;9KSn gramme m t rd St ° rage is ad ° pted in tte Canterbury and Otago +' w- TV' are emmen % suitable for it. This makes for a betterspread distribution and also leaves more space in the cool stores for other fruits. S f eme WaS i nt ™ duced in 1940 growers often received from the market up to 30s. per case for very early fruit. Taking into account the very low producfZrT HnwT 7 +£ COS \ Picl ? ng tteSe earlj Varieties this was not an high return However, the purchase scheme was unable to allow these varieties their normal aifrf scarci^~P nces - To overcome this an early market bonus was introduced and operates on a sliding scale week by week. Even with this bonus the early varieties are tending to go out of production. Stabilization of fruit prices, though essential naturally intensified this difficulty because holding the ceiling for apples at 13s. 6d' + amo w t earl 7 m arket bonus which can be paid while still keeping SroduSd'hfl94o! rnS ' H ° WeVer ' the b ° nUS tas °P erated in all ears s m<* it was first

12