"FRUIT DAY"

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 148, 26 June 1933, Page 10

"FRUIT DAY"

WATERFRONT ACTIVITY

MAUNGANUI'S SHIPMENT

"Fruit day" is always an important occasion on the local waterfront, for around the ship which brings the fruit there is considerable activity, a fair amount of labour being employed. The R.M.S. Maunganui is in port today from San Francisco, via Papeete and Rarotonga, and in the she.ds at the Taranaki Street Wharf there are many thousands of cases of fruit. From Earotonga the Maunganui brought 10,750 cases of oranges, 2075 cases of bananas, 111 cases of mandarines, and 765 cases of tomatoes,, and from San Francisco 2790 cases of oranges, 175 cases of grapefruit, 168 cases of lemons, and 100 cases of cherries. This is a big shipment.

The fruit is inspected in the wharf sheds by officers of the Department of Agriculture. A certain percentage of the fruit is inspected, and this is considered to give ail adequate indication of tho condition of the shipment as a wl\ole. Any fruit that is bad is discarded,! The Island oranges .did not arrive in- good condition in this shipment, .a. third of tho fruit in some'of the cases having to be discarded. Oranges are difficult cargo to carry, as they are to a certain degree matured when shipped, whereas bananas are green when put on board. The standard of the fruit has also much to do with the condition in which it arrives. Many of the orange trees in the Islands are known to be old, and this would affect the fruit.

A close watch is kept on the fruit by the officials. Citrus fruits are fumigated in the Islands before being shipped, as a precaution against mussel scale. If there are any indications of fruit fly in fruit which arrives at "Wellington, tlie fruit is burnt at 'the destructor. Any diseased fruit is also destroyed.