Shipment of Apples.

Manawatu Herald, 29 June 1899, Page 2

Shipment of Apples.

The following short interim report, dated the 18th May, has been made by Mr H. C. Cameron, Inspector of Produce for New Zealand, on the fruit consigned for sale through the AgentGeneral's office, per the steamer Papanui, from the Canterbury Fruitgrowers' Association : — The consignment of 1500 cases of apples and 50 cases of pears shipped by the Canterbury Fruitgrowers' Association for sale through this depart- 1 ment arrived by the s.s. Papanui on Saturday, 13th May. The discharge of the fruit did not commence until the afternoon of Thursday, the 16th, owing to grain and cheese having to be landed before the fruit chamber could be opened. Accompanied by Mr S. B. Wilson, from Canterbury, who is interested in the shipment, I was present when the chamber was opened. On inspection - of the Chamber, it was found to be ■ in cool and dry condition, and the cases appeared exactly as if they had only been stowed. The temperatures, as recorded in the engineer's log, varied from 37deg. to 44deg., and the engineer informed both Mr Wilson and myself that he had experienced no difficulty in maintaining these temperatures satisfactorily. Mr Wilson was permitted to inspect the log also. On opening a number of the cases \ the apples were in good order. A slight moisture was noticeable on the paper in which they had been wrapped but the apples were sound and perfectly satisfactory. The pears, however, were hardly so sound. The " Clargeans " were all more or less rotten, but the other varieties were fair. I had made arrangements for the equal division of the cases between Messrs Keeling and Hunt, of the City Auction Salerooms, and Messrs Garcia, Jacobs and Co., of Covent Garden, and both these firms took considerable interest in the disposal of the fruit. On offering the truit at auction, as is the custom here, it was found that the

buyers were somewhat backward in bidding for the varieties they were unacquainted with, while for the better known ones they offered more keenly. Unfortunately, when opening the sample cases it was found that the " Cox orange pippin " apples were, all more or less rotten. They had been evidently shipped to ripe. The other varieties were all sound. Fifteen shillings a case had been offered for the " Cox orange pippins," but owing to their bad condition they only realised from ios 6d down to 6s 6d a case. The apples genen ilv realised from 12s 6d down to 8s 6d. "The latter price was for "russet nonpareils," which do not take on the market here at all. The pears fetched from 20s to 8s 3d. The " Clargeans," which were so rotten, only realised 3s. The returns have not yet been made up, and so I defer making my full report until I get all particulars. Mr Wilson has expressed himself as completely satisfied with the manner in which the shipment has been handled, and with the means adopted by this department for testing the market here.