TASMANIAN APPLES IN ENGLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2979, 18 August 1891, Page 4

TASMANIAN APPLES IN ENGLAND.

Tho return for apples now sent to London are coming in by every mail (says tho Tasiuatiiau Mail of July IS), and vory valuable losniis are to bo fouud in returns. Whilst sonn; growers are well sati_sHod, others :ire the opposite, and vaii'ius writers in our columns, as well as Ihtisu who him? seen tho fruit shipped, have a tale to tell about it. This it the first season that a millicicntly larqe quantity haH been sent to gimgo the capacity and price.-; of Kiirop.an markets, ami taking thi; returns as a guide there is a trreat future fur our fruit in Kuropi-, so that it ir, aggravating in the extreme \o see so good a market in danger of being spoilt* 3 by J.'wnrijfiit earele.-smss, or as l;us occured, if our arc to be bclievml

■in utttT ili-niirui-il for principle. Thi.« ha« be m seen in tho packing nu.l in the -niiipli! of fruit Ml.ippt-il We liiivo before us some apples us ii cample taken out of lirgo shipments. Thfv lire scarlet pear-inuiti.-i nbout tin; size of a vory email tenuis lull : the Pliin is shrivelled ou the snmiil ones, whilst iibout hnlf iiro specked :uid rot ton. Largo quantities of these were thrown into oases just as they were gathered from tlio trees, or picked up oft* Ihe gioiini, *<> l"o-cly as to rattle like -hot in a box, and the packer ban not even taken the trouble to properly line the rough unpbiined pailing case with paper. Snrh fruit would very frequently be fed to pigs, and it is ninip!y suicidal to go to the expense of sending it to London. In packing tho apples other growers, pcintrd out by Messera W. N. White, havo not properly tilled the oasos and they declared many cases only contained .S-Jlb, of fruit. Wo have seen some weighed which were badly packed, and would have taken easily another row of fruit, the fruit in them weighing , under •lOH)., while a well packed of French crabs took ISlb. Mows E. Jacobs pointed out in their letter the objections ruling in Covent Harden to the pinecaso, especially urging that tho hardwood, boinjr distinctive of Tasmania, should be adhered to. Let us now suppose a Liverpool fruit merchant orderhis agent in Covent Garden to buy Tnsmaniun apples for him, and he gets fruit of tho above quality pue.ked in pine oases, and weighing out 3Glb. to .iSlb of apples ; he will at onco conclude that this is the weight ho is to expect in Tasmanian cai>es, and will look upon tho purchases as a fair sample of our fruit, and the price per capo ho will put up for tho fruit will bo regulated accordinely. In this way the badly packed bad fruit will tuko shillings a bushel off tho prico of the good. To obviate this in tho future it is proposed to adopt a registration of reliable brands. Tho Fruitgrowers' Cooperat.ivß Co. propose to enforce somo such principle, aud it appears to bo tbn most likely moans for improving the apples and the packing. The returne, po Ft>r, indicate that a good samplo well paGlu.nl will realise nil average of sav. 10h a bushel this srasoti. This U for 130,000 bushels pent this year, But already for next year a much larger quantity is booked, which will necessarily mains a lower prico still, and growors must fano tho difficulty of landing their fruit hi Europe at these prices ro as to obtain payable returns. This means a great reduction in intermediate expenses. With unlimited supplies of timber tho eases should ho made at home, and much cheaper than tho imported ones havo cost. Then the freight will have to bofoucht out with the the shipping companies. Tho expenses, with the present freight of 4s Gd in tho mail boats, comes to about 6s 6d per case. To send large quantities, this is manifestly too high, nnd cannot bo maintained. The Port line carried this season for 4s, and as other linos beside the mail boats are already in the field, a stand must bo made this season for a 3s rate. English retailers say that they can get throueli any quantity of good fruit at 4d pet lb. To sell at this prico, and allow for wa«te, they must buy at 8s to lOs, and it remains for growers to keep doivn freight and charges so as to supply this demand and remunerate themselves.