GRAPES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 106, 28 January 1908, Page 8

GRAPES.

.AUSTRALIAN SHIPMENT EXPECTED. . PROBABLE PRICES. Big, ripe, luscious grapes from Australia sliould be sold in the Wellington shops this week at prices that all can pay. The Sydney boat to arrive to-morrow carries a consignment, which grov/ors in Victoria and Now South Wales had ready to place on board ! immediately, advice was received of t-ho gazetting in New Zealand of the. Removal of the prohibition. These will be available to the public .without delay, and probably the streets ivill ring with a new noto in t-ho vocal repertoiro of the fruit-barrowmen. At tho outside, it is expected that the .price of the grapes in the shops will not exceed 7d. per pound. Growers should be satisfied with ocl. per pound here, and 2d. per pound will be a fair, margin for local retailers. Tho grapes sell at Id. per pound wholesale in Australia, but tho cost of package and transit".will not be small. Tho grapes will come packed in cork shavings, which leave no taint; and brush off easily. Saw--, dust would' congealj and quickly . cause an' unwholesome state of affairs if some of tho berries or. bunches decayed' en route. This cork shaving costs. a considerable' sum per pound, but is so light that threepenny-worth should bo sufficient, for a case. Tin? price of fruit cases has also gone up considerably in recent -years, until.now Is. each has to bo paid for them. Fivcper.cc per pound is, therefore, estimated. a fair wholesale, price for the grapes. But should the market,be flooded, .as is not unlikely, before the' season is over, people may buy them, retail for ,4d., or od. per pound. Tho small-boy will tlieu be able have.variety with his morning ice-cream,. arid with tho perversity of youth may even dcclavo the' old lovo "off", desert the- man at the corner, and hie off ,with bis three-penny bit t;o the nearest grape-shop. The mother of a family, with butter iip. to fourteen pence per pound, may even.ponder .over a way (if surreptitiously substituting cheap grapes! Any Way, cheap grapes constitute the chief topic in tho fruit-line: just at present. .... , A local dealer, asked regarding New' Zealand grapes, said that tho ..hot-house articlo rarely, if over, sold wholesale at less than Is. per pound. . Ho had known as much as 'is. to os. per lb. to bo realised, for a caso early in the season, but. this was an abnormal experience. Tho. Australian "season lasts only about, six to eight weeks, so before arid after that .period there will';, always be a market for ,the local product; In the'meantinie tho people niust make the most of their opportunity. -Tho high prico of the Now Zealand, articlo. does not suggest that .tho growers charge excessively. The.expense,of production ' is considerable, and one aspect is that .whereas hot-house grapes hove to be, thinned out, and almost, half of'each of the bunches destroyed to provide room for the berries to expand and dovelop, nature in the open-air fruit arranges this matter herself. The cost of this work is considerable, besides which a quantity of the fruit has to go. . ' The best Australian grapes are supposed to come, from Adelaide, and a. shipment is dne to alrrive next week.