BETTER TRANSPORTATION OF FRUIT ASKED FOR 



A strong case was made out by the repre- 

 sentatives of the fruit interests of Ontario at 

 the sessions of the Railway Commission, which 

 met in Toronto during the week beginning- June 

 20. The commission, as is generally known, 

 was recently appointed by the Dominion Gov- 

 ernment for the purpose of hearing and deter- 

 mining complaints in regard to the service ren- 

 dered by the railway companies. For years 

 there has been general complaint on the part 

 of fruit growers in regard to the treatment they 

 have received at the hands of the railways. It 

 has been felt that the development of the fruit 

 industry has been seriously retarded in conse- 

 quence. 



The fruit interesits represented included the 

 Ontario Fruit Growers' Association, the Nia- 

 gara Fruit vjrowers' Association, and the Inter- 

 national Apple Shippers' Association. The 

 principal witnesses were Mr. W. H. Bunting, of 

 St. Catharines, the president of the Ontario 

 Fruit Growers' Association ; Mr. E. D. Smith, 

 M. P., of Winona ; Mr. H. W. Dawson, the well 

 known commission dealer, of Toronto, and ex- 

 Mayor R. J. Graham, of Belleville, who was the 

 representative of the Apple Shippers' Associa- 

 tion. The railways were represented in part 

 by Mr. G. M. Bosworth, 4th vice-president of 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway; Mr. John Pul- 

 len, general freight agent of the Grand Trunk 

 Railway; Mr. B. B. Mitchell, of Detroit, gen- 

 eral freight agent and traffic manager of the 

 Michigan Central Railway ; A. Patriarche, gen- 

 eral traffic manager of the Pere Marquet sys- 

 tem ; Mr. Hinton, of the Canadian Atlantic 

 Railway, and several others. 



The case for the several farming organiza- 

 tions was introduced by Mr. W. D. Gregory, 

 barrister, of Toronto, who quoted statistics 

 which indicated that during the past 26 years 

 increased from $29,000,000 to $83,666,000, while 

 the total earnings of Canadian railways have 

 the working expenses have only increased from 

 $22,390,000 to $57,343,(>00. This expansion of 

 business and increase in profits, he claimed, 

 may be fairly advanced as a justification for 

 the demand for the reduction in rates and a 

 better service. Reference was made to the fact 

 that Canadian roads gave lower rates on Am- 

 erican traffic carried through Ontario than 

 they do on Ontario traffic carried over the 

 same lines. 



MR. BUNrriNG'S EVIDBNOE. 



Some strong evidence was given by Mr. 

 Bunting, who stated that the fruit growers have 

 not taken the stand they have through any 

 spirit of hostility to the railways. The com- 

 plaints of fruit growers are, he said, divided 

 into three classes, " Equipment," " Despatch," 

 and " Rates." 



Owing to the McKinley tariff having shut 

 Canadian fruit out of the American markets, Mr. 

 Bunting showed how dependent Ontario fruit 

 growers are on the services they receive from the 

 railroads in the transportation of their fruit to 

 their distant markets. The shutting off of this 

 market and the great increase in production 



has caused prices for fruit to fall greatly dur- 

 ing the last 10 or 12 years. It is therefore im- 

 perative that transportation charges shall not 

 be excessive. v^ases were quoted which 

 showed how little margin fruit growers fre- 

 quently have for their products. On 2,502 bas- 

 kets of mixed fruits, shipped by express from 

 the St. Catharines district, to points between 

 Montreal and Toronto, the gross returns were 

 $839.27, the express charges were $33».o0, and 

 the commission for selling $83.90. The gross 

 returns from the fruit were about equally di- 

 vided between the grower, the express company, 

 and the commission man. Many cases, he 

 claimed, could be given where growers actually 

 realized nothing for their product. 



In reply to the claim that in only about one 

 year out of two is >.«iere a good fruit crop, fig- 

 ures were quoted which showed a steady c.--_ 

 marked increase in the shipments from St. 

 Catharines. These shipments, which in 1898 

 only amounted to 256 tons of tender fruits, had 

 increased in 1903 to 2,465 tons. It is natural, 

 he claimed, to believe that the general increase 

 throughout the province has been in about the 

 same proportion. The express charges are so 

 high it is impossible to send much in that way. 

 Although speed is essential in the shipment of 

 fruit, the railways refuse to accept any re- 

 sponsibility for delays unless negligence can be 

 proved, which is generally impossible. Owing 

 to delays on the road fruit frequently misses 

 the market it is intended for and consequently 

 has to be sold at a great sacrifice. 



Mr. Bunting asked that the classification of 

 mixed fruit in baskets in less than car loads be 

 reuuced from first to third class, and in car lots 

 from third to fifth class. If this is granted, 

 instead of it costing growers 33 cents per hun- 

 dred pounds to ship to Montreal in car lots it 

 will only cost 22 cents. A higher rate is 

 charged for the shipment of pears than for ap- 

 ples. In the case of mixed shipments in the 

 same car the high rate is charged for the entire 

 shipment. Mr. Bunting asked that pears be 

 charged at the same rate as apples. 



A material reduction in the cost of icing cars 

 was requested. It was stated that fruit grow- 

 ers will be satisfied if they are simply charged 

 the actual expense of icing each car instead of 

 a flat rate of $16 per car as at present. On the 

 conclusion of his evidence Mr. Bunting was 

 highly complimented by Commissioners Blair 

 and Bernier for the able manner in which he 

 had presented his case. 



DELAYS IN SHIPMENT. 



Evidence along a slightly different line was 

 given by Mr. E. D. Smith, M. P., of Winona, 

 who asked for quicker transportation, better 

 equipment, and the ability to get car's when 

 they are wanted.' 



Last fall Mr. Smith said he had to wait three 

 weeks at Port Perry for cars for apples. Thou- 

 sands of barrels were frozen because of the lack 

 of cars. In the moving of less than car lots of 

 fruit there is almost no system at all. A num- 

 ber of cases of slow delivery were mentioned. 



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