APPLE CULTURE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2364, 21 January 1915, Page 3

APPLE CULTURE

1 . PROSPECTS OF THE INDUSTRY THE EXPORT TRADE NEED FOR UNIFORM GRADING The future of the fmit-growing industry was discussed in a paper read by Mr. T.Horton, of Hawko's Bay, before the Nurserymen's Association's Conference yesterday. Mr. Horton estimated that the area in apples would be doubled during the next five years, so that in the noWar-distant future the country would have for export at l.east 5,000.000 cases of apples. "The question now naturally arises," he went on to say, "What are we going to do with' such an immense amount of fruit? Wo shall not be able to consuino it locally, it is true, but still our own consumption should be much heavier than it is, and I shall not be satisfied until apples are sold at a more reasonable price in our land, and- are cheap enough for every working man to be able to give his family an abundance of good, sound fruit. I consider apples should be cheap enough to permit of every child having at least one every day. _ When this happy state exists this Dominion can consume about two millions of cases' per annum. No Need for Concern, "We need not worry about what to do with our surplus, for there is a most excellent market for every case we have \<o spare. A great deal has been heard lately about the South American market, and growers and shippers have been quite jubilant at the prospects- for the disposal of surplus fruit there, and, while the South American people are quite willing to take our fruit,_ I feel it my duty here and now to issue a warning to all interested in the export trade. South Americans want our fruit, and are willing to pay a fair price for it, but they want good fruit, clean fruit, well graded and well packed, and do not mind paying extra for extra grade. Last year they gave large orders to this country, on tho understanding that they should get nothing but tho best, and their cash was available, before the fruit left our shores; but what happened? Several importers in tho Argentine met me during my sojourn there, and complained that shippers here bad "rung in,' in their consignments, many cases of inferior grade fruit, and threatened that if we continued to treat thern in this manner they would not do business with us, except on their own terms. Honesty the Best Policy. "The South American importer trusted ua implicitly, and we deceived him, and now his faith in us is shaken, and it will be difficult to do business with him again on tho same favourable terms as those which existed. I doubted tho complaint, in face of the fact that a strict watch was kept on consignments by the Department, in'this country, and made a thorough investigation, ana discovered that there' was every justification for what they said. Many importers were quite satisfied with the fruit they had received, arid complaints were the exception, it is true, but if tho cases shown me were a fair sample of what had been sent to some of the importers. and if shippers continue to work into their consignments odd cases of these inferior grades, it will have i a tendency to lower the good 'name New Zealand fruit has today, and will tend to bring down the price considerably. The particularly fine exhibit staged by my firm in Buenos Aires has satisfied the importer there that New Zealand can produce the class of fruit they want, and my own personal assurance that the Department of Agriculture would see that such a thing did not occur again, has done a great deal towards straightening out their complaints this season. I shall now draw the Department's attention to the matter, and am satisfied that everything will be done to prevent any such complaint in the future. I agree with what Mr. T. W. Kirk 'said at our last conference, 'that growers should work co-operatively in getting their produce graded and packed.' To retain our hold on our present markets, it is of the utmost importance that we ship nothing but the best, observing at the same time "uniformity' and 'standardisation/ which have done so much for California! fruits in the markets of tho world. Uniform Trading and Packing. "This brings us up to what really is the weakest point in our present system, and that is the need for central packing-houses, by means of which the ' much-to-be-desired uniformity of - grade \ is secured,_ and the work of inspection at the point of. shipment vastly sim- [ plified. Very few growers are quali- : tied to pack or grade their own fruit for export. It is not possible to es- : tablish a national or Dominion grade, \ if all growers do their own grading. Some system must be obtained, by which the same variety of fruit, graded at Auckland or Dunedin, will not vary ' tho slightest throughout the various J grades. The establishment of central 1 packing-houses conveniently situated in J the vicinity of the orchards is the ■ means to this end. We could then ' have large lines of a uniform grade '■ made up for shipment, and the work ■ of inspection would be very much facilitated. When we have our export 1 trade thoroughly organised, and a real < live man representing us in South 1 America, we should be able to dispose of all our surplus apples and pears there for the next ten years, at anyrate. There are many large cities and districts in South America that have never yet had one case of our fruit, and are keen to get it. . Not only is there the Bast Coast of South Amrica, where most of our former shipments have gone, ■ but the West' Coast of South America, Chile, Peru, Bolivia," Ecuador, and other countries can take enormous quantities of our fruit. When we have more than .these markets I need, we have the Panama Canal open- < ing up. to us the markets of the ' Eastern States, with tliclr great city f and industrial populations. There ' should be an enormous market for our <■ apples in their off-season; there seems to be no limit to the available market. Dr. Snowdon, who holds the position of industrial expert to the National Association of Manufacturers of the United States, says: 'When you £ can put your apples direct into' New i J York, I am sure you will be able to I i tap a market which will take all you 1 can send to it." Without looking fur- £ ther afield for our markets than the places referred to in this paper, I think ' enough has been i/aid to prove that t the orchardist is on a good wicket, ( and that the industry will go ahead ( and make very rariid strides." £ ___________ i . j