MUSHY AND GREEN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 2987, 16 January 1926, Page 4

MUSHY AND GREEN.

AUSTRALIAN APRICOTS

FRUIT BADLY GRADED

LONDON, Jan. 1. Experts have exhaustively and secretly examined the Australian canned fruit which was reported to be inferior to the 1924 pack, and have found that the pears • and peaches were excellent in quality and the equal of anything Australia has exported since 1920. They were, however, badly graded. The experts found that the apricots were bad, being both mushy and green. They say emphatically that these should not be put on the market, as they would wreck Australia s reputation. • A report on these lines has already been cabled to the Commonwealth Government. An independent onlooker said that “the apricots were so bad that if they were offered for nothing you would not take them home.” IMPARTIAL JUDGING.

. The inspection was the first of its kind ever held in the arbitration room of the London Chamber of Commerce, and lasted for several hours. The strictest privacy was preserved, even the •officials of the chamber not being aware of its real nature, but believing that it was an inspection preparatory to selling. Twenty participated, including the High Com: 'isioner (Sir Joseph Cook), Mr M. Shepherd, and Messrs Earnker and Ennis, with independent canned fruit experts, whose report was absolutely impartial and free from the slightest prejudice against Australian produce. Everybody is satisfied about the fairness of the verdict. Fifteen cases were chosen, haphazard, from the shipment and stacked in the room. Three assistants opened the tins and emptied the contents into 50 dishes which were arranged in rows along a table. The group crowded round each dish and noted the appearance and the grading. Then they tasted each dish. It was a slow, tedious, and silent inspection. Australia House officials declined to make any comment, and Sir Joseph Cook refused to give any information beyond saying: “I am having the whole question thoroughly investigated.”

COMMONWEALTH DECISION. The Commomvealth’s decision to supervise the grading and packing, as well as the shipment, of canned fruit has created a good impression among traders, who believe that it should strengthen Australian marketing in Britain, and result in a continually expanding demand. .