1.—12.

174

[a. GILBEBT.

To Mr. Hornsby: During the Committee's tour on Saturday the members looked at a 12-acre paddock that twelve years ago was yielding £60 or £80 per annum, and its market price was £30. When you viewed it recently it was yielding fruit on a basis of ss. per bushel, or £1,250, and the owner would not look at £500 per acre. Another fruit section is a leasehold for twentyone years with right of perpetual renewal subject to revaluation. That owner would not look at £500 per acre for the goodwill of the, lease. These are exceptional cases, but they show what can be done by planting the right varieties. Any city man could do it, and in twelve years he would get the same results. To Mr. Forbes: Next season we should have anything from 200,000 to 250,000 cases available for export. The largest export up to the present was approximately 65,000 cases to South America. I have got into communication with my agent there, but have not had a reply yet, as the letters come via London. To Mr. Hornsby: The eastern States of North America have not been tried on commercial lines. Trade with that quarter is problematical. The Government can assist us in that matter, and 1 ask the Committee to make a recommendation to the Government with a view to getting that market tested. T. Houlker examined. 1 desire to bring under the notice of the Committee the question of the utilization of the by-products of fruit. 1 have been connected with vinegar-manufacturing practically ever since 1 left school, and the question of using the waste products of fruit for commercial articles has always been an interesting one to me. I have realized for a great many years that immense quantities of apples are practically allowed to rot on the ground unless they are utilized in some form in a commercial way. According to the Public Health Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1908, vinegar is defined as " The liquid produced by the fermentation and acetification of any certain specified materials." The Act further states that " The word ' vinegar ' and expressions which include the word ' vinegar,' shall not be written on any label or attached to a package which contains an acetic mixture sold for the purpose of being used, or which may be used, as vinegar unless it be conjoined with the word ' imitation.' ' 1 wish to draw the Commission's attention to the fact that, although Parliament has seen fit to draw up these regulations, the Department entrusted with the administration thereof —for what reason we cannot say —have not made any attempt to inforce them, in that they have allowed imitation vinegar to be sold labelled as the genuine article, guaranteed to comply with the Act. This procedure defeats the objects of the Act in protecting the public, and also prohibits the manufacture of the genuine article, which cannot compete with imitation vinegar sold as genuine, imitation vinegar requiring practically no plant for its manufacture, and the materials required for the manufacture of the genuine article cost about the same as the finished imitation article. The annual consumption of vinegar in the Dominion amounts to over 1,000,000 gallons, equal to about one-seventh the consumption of beer; and in the event of prohibition being carried a large proportion of the brewing plant, material, and labour could be devoted to the manufacture of vinegar. Under present conditions at least 90 per cent, of the labour and materials for production of vinegar is not only lost to the Dominion, but the money for the same is sent out of the country, as the materials for imitation vinegar are all imported. The fruitgrowing industry is seriously handicapped under present conditions, as the manufacture of vinegar from reject apples and fruit cannot be entered into extensively unless the Act is enforced. It is estimated that at least 500,000 bushels of reject fruit could be used for this purpose if the unfair competition of imitation vinegar was eliminated. On behalf of the general public and for the above-mentioned reasons we solicit your assistance for the strict administration of the existing regulations with regard to vinegar, which would result in the establishment of a valuable industry to the Dominion and secure to the general public a wholesome article of food in place of the present chemical product. The Dominion is losing from £5,000 to .£6,000 duty on vinegar alone by allowing imitation vinegar to be manufactured and sold. To the Chairman : I wish the Act to be enforced. The fruitgrowing industry is seriously handicapped under present conditions. I brought this question of imitation vinegar under the notice of the Government in 1914, and from time to time since then, but we have not got much further forward. It is time something was done. To Mr. Hudson: I sent certain samples of imitation vinegar to the Government Analyst, and he said that the samples complied with the Act. I mixed acetic acid with some of the samples, and the reply was that the samples complied with the Act. To Mr. Forbes: I am making vinegar from apples taken from the factory at Motueka. I have taken a three-years lease with the view of utilizing fruit that is not suitable for evaporating and turning it into vinegar. I expect to have the product on the market in another three months. The quality is first class. In the United States practically nothing else is used as high-grade table vinegar. Acetic acid is purely a preservative. I think it should be prohibited to be used as vinegar. To Mr. Hornsby: Acetic acid is allowed to be used in the manufacture of pickles. To Mr. Graigie: The only imported article that I know to be the genuine article is Cross and Black well's. I may be wrong, but that is my opinion. I think the Act is sufficient if it is properly administered. To the Chairman: Before the war the wholesale price of imitation vinegar was 7d. a gallon; I never sold any of the genuine article wholesale at under Is. 3d. I can produce the first-class article, guaranteed genuine, and sell it at Is. 3d. The package is extra J. A. Wallace examined. Asbestos-production is now an industry in New Zealand. It is used extensively; there is a great demand for it. Prospecting has been carried out for a considerable time. Large deposits