II Nov.. 1912.] 



Fruit Trade of Victoria. 



669 



The wholesale distributors, who are situated in, or adjacent to, the Western 

 Market and Queen Victoria Market, number about 20. This gives a total 

 of slightly over 1,400 distributors, or, approximately, one distributor to 

 every 360 inhabitants in the metropolitan area. 



Improvement in Distribution Needed. 



It would appear, from the above figures, that the number of distri- 

 butors is quite sufficient to place the fruit before the public ; but the 



expensive and cumbersome methods by which these retail fruiterers and 

 barrowmen are supplied add so much to the cost of the fruit as to render 

 it a luxury, instead of being, as it should rightly be, a necessary article of 

 diet. This contention will be rendered more clear when it is explained 



