DRIED APPLES FOR EXPORT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1741, 28 July 1917, Page 1

DRIED APPLES FOR EXPORT.

Those interested in the Tasmanian apple industry have a very definite proposal (which the Commonwealth Government is to consider) to meet the danger of a glut in the Australian market next year. In the normal years, just before the war, the export of fresh fruit from Australia was it little over 1,000,000 bushels a year. A million bushels of apples weigh about 20,000 lons, and there is not likely to be a chance of sending any such quantity away next year. But the same quantity of apples, when evaporated, weighs only about 2,500 ions, and the Tasmanian idea is to send the apples away in that form. It is thought that the evaporated apples would meet with a ready sale in London, where they are now worth about fid a lb. The Tasmanian growers and owners of evaporating factories are prepared to put in, at their own expense, the machinery necessary to evaporate 1,000,000 bushels, and to sell the evaporated apples at bedrock prices in order to save a glut. What they desire the Commonwealth Government to do is to guarantee space for the shipment of 2,500 tons of dried apples, and also to guarantee a certain low price. To ship 1,000,000 bushels of fresh apples usually means the employment of about 20 ships, and the apples have to be shipped in cool chambers. The dried apples may be shipped as ordinary cargo, and one vessel could lake them all. It is not expected that it will be necessary for the Commonwealth to pay anything under the guarantee, which is somewhat lower than the present price in England.