ISLAND ORANGES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 July 1938, Page 7

ISLAND ORANGES

THE REPORTED DUMPING AT AUCKLAND. VERY LOW PERCENTAGE OF LOSS. Particulars were sought by Mr W. J. Polson, in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, regarding the ten tons of oranges recently thrown into the sen at Auckland. The Minister of Marketing (the Hon. W. Nash) replied that, the ten tons were part of a shipment of 19,213 cases, approximately 557 tons, of Cook Island oranges. The percentage of waste was 1.8 per cent. Mr J. Robertson (Masterton) said that he would like to congratulate the Minister of Marketing on the very fine results that had been obtained in connection with the control of the marketing of oranges. It was extraordinary that the loss on a shipment of 19,213 cases of oranges should be less than two per cent. It was all very well for interested parties to publish statements in the Press in regard to the dumping of ten tons of oranges which had gone bad, and to allege that the dumping was a manoeuvre to keep prices up, when, as a matter of fact, the percentage of loss was very small. In 1935, 47,723 cases of Cook Island oranges were brought to New Zealand by various ships, but the lowest percentage of loss on no occasion was 2 per cent, but went as high as 24 per cent. The season in 1935 was a bare one because a hurricane had been suffered in the Cook Islands, the shipments being not much more than about half of the average shipments, but the percentage of loss was seven over the wjwle season, and, as had been pointed out, that was even a low percentage of loss compared with previous losses. For many years attempts had been made by the Cook Islands Administration to reduce the percentage of waste in orange shipments. The Raratongan orange was peculiarly susceptible to the disease called stem rot, the main cause of the disease being the pulling of the oranges from the trees instead of their being cut. It, was quite clear that the methods of harvesting had been improved, otherwise the percentage of loss would have been heavier. The loss in 1929 was as high as 60 per cent. In the short time that the Government had taken over the control of the Cook Islands fruit industry it had reduced the losses greatly, the loss on the 19,213 cases, being 1.8 per cent' Of course when the loss of 60 per cent took place it was away back in the days when the regulations governing harvesting, packing and grading had not been promulgated, but as a result of the bringing down of the regulations the loss had been reduced to 14 per cent or 15 per cent. However, in 1936, a shipment showed a loss of 30 per cent. The Minister was to be congratulated on effecting such a great improvement in the marketing of oranges, and it was quite wrong that there should be such a song over a loss of only 1.8 per cent in a shipment.