FRUIT GROWING

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16151, 4 March 1918, Page 3

FRUIT GROWING

j CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION. The Canterbury Fruitgrowers" Association met on Saturday evening, Mr J. Longton presiding over a largo attendance. The chairman, with Messrs F. Sisson and C. P. Taylor were elected the Association's representatives to act at the provincial conferenco in April next. Some discussion took place on the j question of the remits to be forwarded ; to the general conference, which is to br> ' held in May. Among those to be sent ;is one dealing with the question of j shelter bolts, and it was decided to re- { commend that tho Government bo urged J to have the Public Works Act amended ; so that local bodies could not order tho | removal of trees sheltering an orchard, even though they might be shading a I road. It was pointed out that fruitcould not be grown without shelter, and that even if certain small sections of road were damaged by tho shado cast by shelter trees in the winter, tho fruit was of mi-re importance to the Dominion than the small expense of repairing tho roads. Another remit urged the Government to bring into operation tho regulations dealing with the grading and export of fruit, and to compel tho branding of packages containing fruit i grown and offered for sale in New Zealand. It was further suggested that, power be given to local authorities (when markots were established in their jurisdiction) to compel the sale of all mc.at. fish, and fruit in those markets. A letter was received from tho Fruitgrowers' Federation in Wellington, enclosing particulars of the system, of dustspraying in America. Tho information indicated that this form of spraying was still in the experimental stage, and 1 though it. appeared successful for hillside and commercial orchards, tho liquid system was still recommended for small orchards. The committee set up to deal with outstanding subscriptions stated that all mom hers except three or four had paid tip. It was decided to prosecute the defaulters. Mr C. Thornton drew attention to the largo margin between wholesale and retail prices of fruit. He had sold apples at the rale of 1 id per lb at auction, and had seen tho same fruit retailed at 4d and 5d a lb, which margin was far too large. He urged the Association to try to obi -in a closer and more satisfactory conne .ien between grower and consumer; to the advantage of both. The chairman said that the Federation was about to institute a fruit campaign, and intended to spend between £500 and £1000 in advertising. It was hoped to set -results on tho lines indicated by Mr Thornton. A communication was received from the Federation in Wellington, stating that a suitable hall had been obtained for tho National Apple Show, which would ho hold in Auckland. The local Show Committee reported that it would see that Canterbury was j properly represented at the show.