DRIED APPLES FOR EXPORT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3139, 18 July 1917, Page 8

DRIED APPLES FOR EXPORT

A TASMANIAN SUGGESTION. Those interested in the Tasmanian apple industry have a very definite pro-' posal (which tho Commonwealth Government is to consider) to meet the danger of a glut in the Australian market next year. In the normal years, just before the war, the export of fresh fruit from Australia was a little over 1,000,000 bushels a year. A million bushels of apples weigh about 20,000 tons, and there is not likely to he a chance of sending any such quantity away next year. But the same quantity of apples, when evaporated, weighs only about 2500 tons, and the Tasniunian idea is to send the apples away in that form. It is thought that the .evaporated apples would meet with a ready sale in London, where .they are now worth about 9d. a lb. The Tasmanian growers and owners of evaporating factories are prepared to put in, at their own expense, the maohmery necessary to evaporate 1,000,009 bushels, and to sell the evaporated apples at bedrock prices in order to save a, glut. What they desire the Commonwealth Government to do is to guarantee space for the shipment of 2300 tons of dried aj)a!es, and also to guarantee a certain low price. To ship 1,000,000 bushels of fresh anples usually means the employment of about 20 ships,' and the apples have to be shipped in cool chambers. The dried apples may be shipped as ordinary cargo, and one vessel could take .them all. It is not expected that it will be necessary for tho Commonwealth to pay anything under the guarantee, which is somewhat lower than the present price in England.