MARKETING OF FRUIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 February 1941, Page 9

MARKETING OF FRUIT

DEPARTMENT’S POSITION.

STATEMENT BY MINISTER. <By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. The classes of fruit and vegestables coming under the control of the Marketing Department were explained in a statement issued by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Barclay yesterday. He said that judging from recent letters and articles published in the newspapers it would appear that a large section of the general public was under some misapprehension as to what these were.

The only fruits directly marketed by the department were oranges, bananas, lemons, apples and pears, said Mr. Barclay. All stone fruits such as cherries, peaches, apricots and nectarine, berry fruits such as strawberries and raspberries, and all types of vegetables, including tomatoes, were in no way marketed under the jurisdiction of the department. In the case of oranges and bananas the department was the sole authority, and at all times made available to wholesale distributors ample supplies of these fruits at the lowest possible price after enuring that the landed cost had been recovered.

In addition, recent regulations had been introduced, solely for the public safeguard, which required both oranges and lemons to be sold retail according to their size and at a price a dozen with the fixing of a maximum margin which the retailer would be entitled to claim.