COOK ISLANDS FRUIT

Evening Post, Issue 126, 29 May 1936, Page 10

COOK ISLANDS FRUIT

PROFITS AND LOSSES

MERCHANT'S PURCHASES

Evidence given before the Industries and Commerce Committee of the House jOx Representatives today was chiefly Iby merchants, and concerned the amount involved in the purchase of shipments of Cook Islands fruit and the small nature of the'profits. W. H. Rice, a director of Radley and Co.. Ltd., fruit.auctioneers. Auckland, foe many years trading in the area under review, stated that during the years 1934-35 they had handled a total or ISJ2B cases of. oranges qf an average landed c.i.f. cost of 11s pei: case. Wastage over a" two-year period had amounted to one-seventh. They had to cool-store and repack. The average gross profit over two years was Is 2d per case, or 9.6 per cent, on the turnover, which provided a very narrow margin. How important the ratio of loss oi fruit was was shown by the fact that of 63,787,9501b of oranges imported into the Dominion for the ten'years ending in 1936, 4,500,0001b of i'ruit had been lost to the consumer, and that after transport and purchase charges had been made. Such losses were not incurred in purchases ■ from other sources. The loss on 2,521,3151b of Jamaican oranges of similar variety was very slight, and with 2,801,1471b of U.S.A. oranges of a different class the loss was practically nil. CASH INVOLVED. James Bell Donald, managing director of A. B. Donald, Ltd., Auckland, fruit merchants and Island traders, said that sixty years previously his father started the Rarotonga fruit trade, fruit being brought over in j schooners. He himself had been | brought up in the business. A ship- j I ment of .6170 cases of bananas from j the Cook Islands in 1934 cost him j £2445. and sold for £2494, a profit of £49 or an average of 2d per case; 1830 cases handled in 1935 cost £786, and sold for £798, a profit, of £ 12,■ or an average of L\d per case. The cost o£ I 10.033 cases of oranges shipped from Rarotonga to . the South. Island was £8691. They sold for £9259, a profit of £568, or Is Id per case. A tomato shipment of 4364 boxes'to Wellington in 1934 cost £1254 and sold for £1525, a profit of £271. or Is 3d a case: another shipment in 1935, of 12,131 boxes, cost £2663, and sold for £2297, a loss of 7d per box. " Over six years' trading a profit of £420 a year had been made on fruit, but the average loss over the whole of the trading was £ 1000 a year. The figures, of course, covered largely the slump period, but one of the chief reasons why the firm continued in the business at'this loss was because of its long-established connections. PROTECTION SOUGHT. The Island trade in oranges, said Mr. Donald, could exist only by Government assistance or the restriction on other countries' exports. Protection or assistance was imperative. To build up the industry properly a suitable shipping service was essential. If the trees were properly cared for and brought to full healthy- bearing, cargoes for two ships could be found during the season. He suggested that a duty of Id per lb bs placed on I oranges from other : countries from April 1 to October 31, with perhaps a rebate in the case of Australian oranges. ll' Australian oranges were admitted free, the CooT? Island oranges would not find a market in competition with them. . Questioned, Mr. Donald said he did not think a control board would improve the position "in any shape or form." There was contsol at present j but it was not exercised. A commit- | tee in the Islands with legal status but with only advisory powers would be helpful. A full control board would mean the getting rid of staffs by firms j who had been carrying on there for years. Mr. Donald, referring to Government officials in the Islands, said that some were better than others. He believed ; that if Judge Ayson, whom he had I known for a number of years, were ; allowed'to do all that he wanted to do, j the interests of all in the Islands would ibe well served. j Questioned as to what he meant by i •allowed/ Mr. Donald said that there had been a certain amount of political control over a year ago, and mention-1 ed correspondence. Succeeding wit-' nesses, he hoped, would support his statements. i (Proceeding.) Yesterday's proceedings arc vy. on page -i.