306 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 May, 1918. 



fruit and mix this with fruit of a lower grade, the whole being put up 

 for market in such a way as to deceive the unAvary purchaser into the 

 belief that he is obtaining fruit of a higher grade than is actually the 

 fact. It must be remembered that the grower, in transactions of this 

 nature, has less chance of success than the middleman, as the grower is 

 selling to the middleman, who is an expert in the business of buying 

 and selling fruit ; whilst the middleman, or the retail middleman at any 

 rate, is selling to a member of the general public, who is unacquainted 

 with the tricks of the trade. 



How Fruit may be Repacked to Deceive Purchaser. 



Another practice, very common amongst certain sections of the trade, 

 is to repack fruit in such a manner that, from an original purchase of, 

 say, twelve cases, a total of thirteen, or perhaps more, cases may be 

 made up. 



To the uninterested, these thirteen cases appear properly packed or 

 filled, although each case may contain perhaps 10 per cent, less than its 

 original quantity of fruit. 



This practice is especially prevalent in connexion with the sale of 

 citrus fruits, as these, by their nature, are more easy to manipulate for 

 this purpose than most other fruits. 



Marking of Cases with Net Weight, Number, or Quantity 

 Should be Enforced. 



The provision for the indication of the net weight, number, or 

 quantity of contents was included in the draft Regulations of the Fruit 

 Act, for the purpose of defeating this practice, as this end cannot be 

 attained by any other means. The fruit may be packed in standard 

 bushel cases, and the faced or shown surface of the fruit may be typical 

 of the contents of the whole package, but despite these facts, the purchaser 

 will not be receiving full value. 



Plate I. shows a case of oranges properly packed and graded, which 

 contains 152 oranges. Plate II. shows the same case repacked in the 

 manner indicated. To all appearances, the case shown in Plate II. 

 is honestly packed and well filled with fruit, yet it contains only 136 

 oranges, or 16 less than the case shown in Plate I. 



Present Legislation Powerless to Prevent Dishonest Repacking 



OF Fruit. 



As oranges are frequently worth lOs. a bushel or more, and as a fast 

 packer easily can pack and nail six cases per hour, it will be readily 

 understood that the practice well repays the time and trouble of repack- 

 ing. Until the packing and grading of fruit under the diagonal 

 numerical system is enforced by legislation, the practice may be con- 

 tinued with impunity, as neither the Fruit Cases Act nor the Fruit and 

 Vegetable Packing and Sale (Topping) Act are sufficiently wide in their 

 scope to deal with the matter. This leads us to a consideration of the 

 attempts which have been made during the past few years to remove, by 

 legislation, the disabilities under which the fruit industry has laboured. 



