SAMOAN BANANAS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 January 1930, Page 8

SAMOAN BANANAS

2 DELIVERY TO SOUTH s ISLAND. r j AUCKLAND FIRM’S CONTRACT. 3 AUCKLAND, Jan. 22. 1 ‘ The position in regard to the con , tract, for Samoan bananas has been ex plained by Mr Harry Turner, on be , half of Turners and Growers, Ltd. , the Auckland firm, to which recen , criticism from, Dunedin refers. , Mr Turner said that the Governmen invited tenders for the purchase of tin , season’s output of Samoan bananas, re . presenting probably ten shipments ol , 6000 cases each. His firm offered tin highest price, and he understood that his firm was the only tenderer prepared to take the whole output. Before the contract was signed the firm agreed to the Government’s proposal, which was not embodied in the original conditions, that it w'ould dispose of 50 per cent, of the season’s bananas in Wellington and at South island ports. That would be done according to market requirements as indicated by orders received from southern centres. Mr Turner remarked that the reference to an allocation of 1050 cases to Dunedin from the present shipment by the Maui Pomare was ridiculous. The quantity reserved for Dunedin was a matter between the firm and its clients, but he could say that if the fruit had arrived in better condition a much larger quantity would have been discharged at Dunedin. The comparison between the contract price and returns from the South Island from two previous trips was also misleading. The South Island quotations represented the effect of special circumstances such as Christmas trade, and were not representative of the returns for Samoan bananas over the season. As to the Maui Pomare’s itinerary, Mr Turner said that the experience of the first voyage under contract would certainly lead his firm to ask Glut the vessel should call first at Auckland at least on alternate trips, when its arrival would not clash with shipments from Fiji.