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Total Manufactured, Peel and Juice Processed peel .. .. .. 263| tons. Juice .. .. .. .. 20,846 gallons. APPLE AND PEAR DIVISION This report reviews the completion of the 1948 apple and pear season and themajor part of the 1949 season. The final crop figure for 1948 season was 2,921,730 casesmade up of 2,596,452 cases of apples and 325,278 cases of pears. This constituted a record crop since the commencement of organized marketing in 1940, the total being 273,000 above the previous record established in the 1941 season. Altogether, the 1948 season was a difficult one, not only because of the large crop but also because of the heavy proportion of small sizes and the low quality of fruit in commercial and minimum grades. Another important difficulty was the withdrawal of subsidies, both direct and indirect, plus increased production costs. These conditions made it necessary for the Department, acting in association with the Fruit Marketing Council, to obtain from the market an average return approximately 4s. per case morethan in 1947 in order to give growers a comparable return. The net market return achieved was actually 3s. Bd. per case above the 1947 average. The average return to the grower in 1947 was 9s. 4-78 d. per case, and in 1948 lis. 5-69 d. In view of the magnitudeof crop and the large percentage of small sizes and poor quality fruit, this result reflects great credit on those responsible, and especially on the members of the Fruit Marketing Council whose experience and advice was of great benefit to the Department and tothe industry. New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board The Fruit Marketing Council laid a solid foundation for the setting-up of the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board which was established at the request of theindustry under the Apple and Pear Marketing Act, 1948. The new Board, the members of which were appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of theMinister, consists of two members selected from a panel of names submitted by theNew Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation, two other members appointed by the Minister,, and an independent Chairman selected by the Minister after consultation with the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation. The present personnel of the Board is as follows : Mr. H. Turner .. .. .. .. Chairman Mr. J. Hainsworth .. .. .. Federation nominee. Mr. K. B. Longmore .. .. .. Government nominee. Mr. G. C. McMurtry .. .. .. Federation nominee. Mr. M. J. Moriarty .. ' .. Government nominee. The principal function of the Board is to acquire apples and pears grown in New Zealand or imported into New Zealand, and to market them both within the Dominion and overseas. The fruit is acquired on a purchase basis, the price being fixed by the Minister afterreceiving the advice of the Board as to the assessed cost of production for the season in question ; the average purchase-price fixed by the Minister is to be within the limits of 6d. above and 6d. below the standard cost of production declared for the season. The standard cost of production is based on production costs for the Hawke's Bay and Nelson districts. The Board has power to pay to growers in other districts an additional amount to compensate for the district's higher cost of production. The Board has the power to set up its own assembly, distribution, and marketing organization or to appoint an agent to carry out these functions. The Department has been appointed agent for a period of two years and was specifically authorized to accept appointment under the Act.

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