BOXES FOR EXPORT

Hokitika Guardian, 17 July 1926, Page 1

BOXES FOR EXPORT

. SHOULD BE MADE ON COAST. AVith the timber trades of New Zealand iu their present plight owing to foreign competition much interest attaches to a suggestion made by the Forestry Department to meet the demands of the fruit and dliiry industry in the matter of boxes for export. This is that a central box factory should be established on the AA’est Coast of the South Island, and should collect shorts and other milling timber from milling operators for the manufacture of boxes. Alternatively, it is suggested that a. combined box’ factory and sawmill should be set up. T’he cost of this would bo less than that of the other factory'. It is considered that sucli a concern, with a guaranteed output of say 1,000,000 boxes for the year—and the needs of the fruitgrowers alone are much greater than this—would soon be a payable proposition, land would fill an urgent need in New Zealand. FORCED ABROAD. lAt present fruitgrowers are still forced to go abroad for- their boxes, and the. New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation has just arranged ■ for a further supply to meet shippers’ requirements next season. Interviewed yesterday, Air 11. E. Napier, secretary of the federation and to the Fruit Control Board, stated that as things wero New Zealand-made boxes cost 2d each more than the imported boxes, and this was a load which the fruit industry simply could not bear. From abroad they could import boxes cut' strictly to their specifications, and while they did not say that the. *\ew Zealand millers could not give them these the difference was that here I there wore no large mills making boxes in big numbers. Further, taking t-licir specification at lOf inches by 1 01 for one piece of wood the New Zealand millers would allow, say, a quarter ol an inch for shrinkage, but tho pieces would not shrink similarly, and they would not have a correct box at the finish. Great difficulty was created during packing if the boxes were not standard. At tho last meeting of the board, however, said Air Napier, tho matter had been reopened, -and if the millers could turn out anything like a correct box at a' right price they stood a good chance of getting business. MUST SAVE. The boxes brought, into the country were only for export purposes. , But 2d a case was more than they could pay, especially to-day with low prices for fruit and heavy marketing costs. They had to save iu every possible direction. Seventy-live per cent of the imported boxes went to Nelson. The other districts were better served in the matter of mills, Auckland having the whole of King Country to draw upon, Hawke’s Bay being well situated, and Otago also not needing outside supplies. But once coastal freight was put-on top of the . price paid for tho New Zealand-made box the position became impossible. The fruitgrower was worse off than the dairy farmer. A box ol' butter was of some value, but- what was tho -.vorth of a case, of apples? A 401 b case yielded a return of Id per lb to tho grower. Tho exist of the imported case was lOd to the grower, so that shippers paid for boxes 25 per cent, of what they got on tho fruit. The National Dairy Association also is again obtaining supplies of Swedish wood for the shipment of butter, ad- _ vancing the same plea as the fruitgrowers. It is urged that the logical solution 0 f the problem, as far as Nelson is concerned, is the establishment of factories on the lines already indicated. Already there is one miller in the North Island who is willing to make cases at 75s per 100, which is a competitive price for the North Island. Tho manufacture of boxes on the AA'est Coast would save the freight on timber which is now carried to Nelson and is wasted in the course of manufacture. and with a modern milling plant installed in AVestland it is considered that boxes could be made to meet all requirements of fruitgrowers and dairy producers alike.