The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1918. A LANGUISHING INDUSTRY.

Taihape Daily Times, 20 April 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1918. A LANGUISHING INDUSTRY.

(With which is incorporated The f&ihapo Post and News).

The shortage of shipping is being felt, not only by meat, wool and butter producers, but also by loss extensive producing industries. We are advised that orchardists are on the verge of having their entire season’s output destroyed by the'less of markets they had, with Government assistance, built up. There are now 240,000 cases of apples, in cool store, and there are no indications of when this congestion will be cased, or whether it will be eased at all. Fruit-farmers are facing a black outlook, which it is in the very best interests of the general taxpayer, as well as of fruit-farmers, they should bo given relief from. It is easy to say'‘there are no ships, what are we to do? But here is a very serious matter in w|iich the real trouble largely lies in conflicting interests within our own borders. Fruit-farmers have 240,000 cases of apples in cold store, and yet, if the law has not recently been altered, on July we shall open our ports to the admission of Hobart, Australian, and American grown, fruit. In July those great fruit markets in the various cities will be flooded with imported apples. Fortythousand cases are on order from Canada. The amazing aspect is that other countries can secure shipping do bring apples here while our apples can lay and rot for want of shipping. Middle interests in the apple ’business arc striving to keep up old haphazard ■methods of marketing that must eventually lead first to strangulation and then, perhaps, to improvement. It seems that apple traders only use i( the New Zealand industry to tide over the time when there are none to import j it is another case in which a primary industry is in the possession £of shippers and traders who force ,:down, perpetually, New Zealand ?apples prices to six or seven shillings a case for best quality dessert fruit, while the imported on the same market, of no better quality, if as good, will realise twelve and fourteen shillings. It, is inexplicable that this country should import from two to four million pounds of fresh frui't while much of- that grown here is left to rot, why market-controllers should persist in putting imported fruit on the market in preference to our own grown. While our Government has been assisting New Zealand applegrowers to find markets in England and America for about four million pounds of fruit they have been countenancing the apple-trader bringing in four million pounds to replace it. This year it is worse, for our growers cannot get their four millions away, but the traders are getting their four millions into our markets and it seems that our own grown fruit must rot in cold store, there is no other outlook at present. Traders care nothing about the economic question-" they do not care whether the whole apple output rots in cool store so long as they have had what was necessary to tide them over the time when there were no apples to import; they do not care about the country losing the value of the season’s output, nor that the country has spend from £50,000 to £IOO,OOO on imported fruit to replace it—a double loss. They still stand for the old haphazard way that has grown out of very early days when the farmer was glad to realise on a surplus sugarbag or two of his apples in the auction room. Efforts have been made to reorganise the trade, to bring about better conditions, but negotiations have hitherto been dominated by the trader and New Zealanders have, in consequence, to pay a price that Is fixed by the imported article instead of by the home-grown. The New Zealand grower finds land, trees, labour and all Incidentals and gets, if he is very fortunate, twopence a pound for his best fruit,- while the people who handle It will not pass it on to the consumer at less than sixpence a pound. It is as well to remember that imported fruit passes into the hands of the trader af about fourponce a pound, and that is also sold at sixpence to the consumer. The trader extracts 200 per ' cent On home grown fruit, but is quite satisfied with 50 per cent, on imported fruit. Tills, is necessarily a general !

estimate, but it is a fair statement of ■ prevailing conditions. We say it is not honest of the Government’.to encourage tho export of apples until it has found the courage to reorganise the marketing side of the industry in New Zealand. In two more 'months .fruiters’ window's throughout the country will be stocked with imported apples, can we buy them without feeling guilty of the knowledge that there are 240,000 cases —roughly ten million pounds —of the fruit grown by our own fruit-growers rotting in cool store? By permitting present marketing conditions to continue fruit-farmers are being ruined, and the country is neglecting and assisting to destroy a class of taxpayers this country is at this moment in dire need of. It all results from our laws encouraging the importation of foreign grown fruit and the exportation of that grown here, together with aif utter indifference to marketing in all other respects. The “ Auckland Star" has, editorially, drawn attention to this question, and has urged that surplus New Zealand apples should be dried to fill the place of the enormous quantity of evaporated apples that arc now being imported. Wo* are afraid the “Star" will find a “snag” in the trader and shipper—we hope not.