N.Z. APPLES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 95, 8 May 1937, Page 18

N.Z. APPLES

Opening of New Season At Home OFFICIAL CEREMONY , LONDON, April !«. I Zt ku been the custom for eome yeanj >ie inaugurate each new eeasoa for New | Zealand apples in London with a dieJ. play and an appropriate ceremony at New Zealand House. Publicity is aimed! at in the British Press ehiefly bri photos, because there i* not much thati is new that can be said year after yea?j about New Zealand apples. Photographei sent -to New Zealand will give a good) idea of the originality of the displaw this year in the front hall of New-Zea-1 land House.- ' The central feature, a{ father and son seated on a table holdingj apples— "Regular Pals"— is a painted! eightfoot enlargements of the New Zea-i !land Fruit Board's chief poster. - The fuuction has been overwhelmiag^; Sy voted by New Zealandeirs the • besti lever held. Mrs Jordan performed the! i opening ceremony, and ■ did. it .most suen ,cessfully and gracefuliy. Neariy . twaj Piundred New Zealanders and repres^i-i tative fruit dealers were present, thai Iargest attendance on record, and thej limited accommodation, the- front liall ofl jNew Zealand House provides, even when the newspaper flies are • staeked away elsewhere, was crowdedl Amon g' those present were Lord Bledisloe j(Lady Bledisloe was indisposed and uaable to attend), Lady Hewitt and' Mb ijustice Blair. The. Walter Nash' and Mrs Nash' were associated in ihe eeremony with the High Commissioner and Mrs Jordan and Mt H, Turner, London manager of the "New Zealand Fruit Board. The High Gommissibner, .• after., ,a ihappy greeting to New Zealanders, ex-> pressing also his pleasure at the large attendance, asked Lord Bledisloe to speak. His Lordship urged New Zealand to maintain ihe high quality of her produce because, having the best foodstuffs in the world at her di^ospl in the shops, the British housewife would naturally buy the best she could get for her money, To-day New Zealand undoubtedly was sending the best^ (Applause). ( Mr Jordan xemarked that the goodaj supplied to Lord Bledisloe 's household were of such a New Zealand eharacter that his Lordship was always 'trory full jof this subject. ' ' (Laughtor and ap--jplause). He called on Mr Nash, MiniBjter of Marketing. \ Mr Nash said it was like home to sea around Tiith so many New Zealand faces. iHe paid a tribute to those responsibla junder the High Commissioner for jthe splendid display before them. (Ajm jplanse.) So far as apples wero «ouh( .cerned, if "an apple a day" was to b«J |a slogan, with practieal application in IBritain, twice the present supply froat ,all sources would be necessary if every .person was to get ono a day, Ho agreed that our pro duco must be th« best if we expected British housewivei to favour it. He said that Mr Turner, the Fruit Board 's London "representative, was doing excellent work in Britaia for apples, and in xespect to all produce Mr Jordan had his job to do at this end, and he was sure he would do it welk (Applause.) 1

At the invitation of Mr Turner, Mr* Jordan then declated New Zealand'* 1937 fruit season in London open. In a brief speech which greatly pleased allj New Zealanders, especially in its happji delivery, Mrs Jordan expressed he« pleasure at being asked to perform thiaj ceremony. She said that after hayingi seen in New Zealand the various stagesl of apple growing, fruit ripening, thej grading, packing and loading into the ships, it was particularly interesting! now to her to have acquaintance with] the marketing side and to be ■ able t* help in advertising the fruit o* tfcej London market. She then, amidst applause, deelared the 1937 New Zealand apple season in London duly inaugurated, and she hei> self was the recipient, from Mr Turner, of a large decorated basfeet of Cox'S Orange Pippins. - , Most of those present from theirj way to the High Commissioner ?s room,; where morning toa was dispensedi